■■<,
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
N
HISTORY I
OF THE
Presbyterian Church
IN IRELAND,
FOR READERS ON THIS SIDE THE ATLANTIC,
BY
Rev. WILLIAM CLELAND,
TORONTO.
TORONTO
HART & COMPANY
81 & 33 KING STREET WEST
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the Office of the Minister
of Agriculture, by Hart & Company, in the year one thousand eight hundred
and ninety.
PREFACE.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is not, and never
was, numerically a large body. At present, its adherents,
all told, barely exceed six hundred thousand. Fifty years
ago the figure stood much higher, but emigration to the
United States and the British Colonies has done much, in the
long interval, to thin its ranks. Its history, therefore, may
naturally be supposed to be lacking in the interest that
attaches to sections of the Church of Christ, whose mem-
bership is immeasurably greater, and whose christian work
presents much larger proportions. Yet, such a supposition
would be hardly just, and when closely and carefully ex-
amined will be found to be scarcely tenable.
There can be no doubt that the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland has proved itself to be, to that country, the greatest
blessing with which it has been favoured during the last
three hundred years. It has given to it in its purest form
the truth, from which springs the righteousness that exalts
a nation. It has always been careful to instruct the people
who worship at its altars in Christian doctrine and moral-
ity ; and, with this great end in view, it has looked care-
fully to the training of its ministers, given to the ministry
of the Word a prominent place in its church services, and
made special provision for the religious teaching of the
young. It would be hardly possible, therefore, to over-esti-
mate the benefits it has been the means of conferring upon
11 PREFACE.
all those sections of the country to which its ministrations
have extended. It has enriched Ulster, the most populous
and important of its provinces, with an intelligent, industri-
ous, and orderly population, and done more than any other
agency within its borders to elevate that province to the
position of superiority in all material and moral interests that
it confessedly occupies over the other provinces of the king-
dom. Nor, looking at the present condition of this northern
province, where its influence has been most widely diffused
and most powerfully felt, can it be regarded as an idle
dream to imagine that the day that should witness the
happy ingathering of the whole [)opulation of Ireland within
its pale should also witness the inauguration of an era of
peace and prosperity in that liitheito distracted and unfor-
tunate country unknown in any former period of its history,
and the elevation of all its provinces to a condition of moral
and spiritual pre-eminence that would give it an indispu-
table claim to be regarded as indeed " The Isle of Saints."
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has proved itself to
be a blessing to the world at large. Its people at the
Revolution did much by their memorable and heroic struggles
to promote the cause of constitutional freedom ; and, as mul-
titudes of its adherents have since gone out into many lauds,
they have carried with them, wherever they have gone, the
same ardent love of liberty that then inspired the courage of
their forefathers, as well as those deep religious convictions,
and those habits of industiy and thrift without which no
community can prosper. Probably more than any other race
they have contributed to the existence and progress of the
PREFACE. lU
Presbyterian church in the United States. That church is,
to-day, the largest Presbyterian ])ody in tlie world, and its
membership consists very largely of Irish Presbyterians and
the descendants of Ii'ish Presbyterians. The Mrst congrega-
tion that was placed on its roll was organized by a native of
Ulster, and not a few in the thousands of congregations that
liave since been added to its ranks owe their existence
to the labours of others from the same province, who followed
in his footsteps. The influx still continues. Some of the
most distinguished Presbyterian ministers in the United
States at this moment were born, brought up, and educated
in Ulster.
Tlie first Presbytery also in the United States was organ-
ized by Ulster men, and, I presume, that in the immense
number of the Presbyteries that now cover the vast area of
its almost boundless territory, hardly one could be found
that does not count on its roll members Irish either by birth
or oiigin. The same holds largely true of all the British
Colonies. The progress and prosperity of the Presbyterian
Church in all those lands are to a very considerable extent
due to the influx of Irish Presbyterians, who carry with
them into all places to which they migrate an intelligent
attachment to the [)rinciples of their faith, and an unbend-
ing firmness in their maintenance. It is well-known that
the same gifted stock has given to the Presbyterian Church
in Canada a large number of its most active and intelligent
members, as well as of its ablest and most efficient ministers.
It would be difficult, I venture to affirm, to find a Presby-
terian congregation in all the Dominion, fi-om the Atlantic
IV PIIEFACE.
in the East, to the Pacific in tlie West, that do(:'.s not
embrace within its communion a very considerable repre-
sentation of tliis '* imperial race." And it would be no less
difficult, I an) equally confident to affirm, to find within
the same area a Presbytery that does not include in its
membership several who still fondly look to Ulster as the
home of their fathers.
The Irish Presbyterian Church has proved itself to be a
blessing to the world at large in yet another sense. It h;is
done much in the field of missionary enterprise during the
last fifty years, and its zeal in this great cause is still on the
increase. For long it had a hard struggle for existence.
In the face of opposition and oppression, dealt out with no
sparing hand by despotic monarchs, intolerant parliaments,
arbitrary courts of law, and bigoted prelates ; in the face of
a still more serious menace to its existence in the presence
of dange/ous and seductive error within its own bosom, it
has done battle right nobly for the truth. And now that
the battle is over, and the victory won, its energies, free to
flow in a diffi^rent channel, are vigorously directed to the
furtherance of the great work of evangelizing the world
committed to the church by her risen Lord, and to the
accomplishment of which her various branches are happily
addressing themselves with an earnestness that gives promise
of the speedy arrival of the hour when
** The beam that shines from Zion hill,
Shall lighten every land ;
The King who reigns in Salem's towers,
Shall all the world command." .'
PREFACE. V
In Ireland itself, on the Continent of Europe, in India, in
Oiuna, among the Jews in different places, it is zealously
laV)0uring for the diffusion of the saving knowledge of the
gospel. Its scattered children everywhere share in the
missionary ardour that glows within its bosom. In the
United States ; in the British Colonies ; and notably, in
this great Dominion, thev are second to none others in the
interest they manifest, and the efforts they make for the
advancement of the kingdom of universal righteousness and
love the Redeemer came to establish, destined, sooner or
later, to extend its benign sway over all the nations of the
earth.
A church with such a record cannot fall far behind the
Iprgnr and more influential churches of Christendom in the
interest of its story. The history of its past sufferings, and
struggles, and achievements, cannot fail to command the
earnest attention of all who take pleasure in contemplating
the onward march of divine truth, and the progress of
Christian civilization ; and must be {)eculiarly interesting
to the thousands and tens of thousands of Presbyterians in
this Western world who claim the connection with it of
descent from its parentage.
The following work is intended chiefly for readers on this
side of the Atlantic, and is meant to furnish all who cherish
a filial affection for the church of their fathers, as well as
all who value the great principles of divine truth and constitu-
tional freedom, with a concise yet faithful history of the Pres-
byterian Church in Ireland from the period of its first planta-
tion in Ulster till the present day. The materials that I
VI PREFACE.
have woven into the narrative are drawn chietiy from Reid
and Killen's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,
which Mr. Froude, an erainent living historian, has justly
declared to be " the very best book which has been written
on these matters," but which is too large and expensive to
obtain wide-spread circulation, particularly in these days of
busy employment and keen competition when people gener-
ally can devote but a small portion of their time to reading
and study. I have derived help also from Dr. Killen's
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland; Dr. Withrow's Berry
and Enniskillen, and Historical and Literary Memorials of
Preshyterianism in Ireland, by the same author ; Xillinchy,
or the Days of Livingstone, by the late Wm. McComb, Bel-
fast; Dr. Hamilton's History of the Irish Presbyterian
Church ; and an article entitled, The Plantation of Ulster,
written, I believe, by the late Dr. Croskery, Magee College,
Derry, that appeared in an issue of the Edinburgh Review
for 1869.
It is hoped that the three introductory chapters will be
found to add to the interest of the work. The first deals
with the Civil and the second with the Ecclesiastical history
of Ireland from the earliest times. The third embraces a
somewhat lengthened sketch of the Reformation in Ireland.
In the provMence of God, my time has been placed very
largely at my own disposal, and for some months past, I
have devoted much of it to the preparation of this volume,
which, I hope, will prove acceptable to all into whose hands
it may come, and serve to increase their knowledge of
the past history and present condition of a church which, in
PREFACE. VU
the Scriptural character of its doctrines, discipline, polity,
and worship, the ability and devotedness of its clergy, the
intelligence and piety of its people, the firmness with which
for well nigh three hundred years it has maintained the
truth amid surrounding darkness, and the zeal with which
it is prosecuting its manifold labours for the spread of the
gospel all the world over, takes rank among the very fore-
most of the evangelical churches of Christendom.
Toronto, 1890.
CONTENTS.
Paqb.
Chapter I.
A Brief Sketch of the Civil History of Ireland from the
Earliest Times 1^
Chapter II.
A Brief Sketch of the Ecclesiastical History of Ireland from
the Earliest Times ^^
Chapter III.
The Reformation — in Ireland 37
Chapter IV.
The Ulster Plantation, and the Rise of the Presbyterian
Church in Ireland ^°
Chapter V.
Prosperity and Persecution ' '
Chapter VI.
The Irish Massacre of 1641 ^
Chapter VII.
The Church Rismg out of Her Ruins 116
Chapter VIII.
Darkness and Light Alternating 136
Chapter IX.
Freedom's Battle 148
Chapter X.
The Reign of Queen Anne 180
Chapter XI.
The Rise of the Secession and Covenanting Bodies in Ireland . . 203
10 CONTENTS.
Page
Chapter XII.
From the Accession of George III. till the close of the Century, 219
Chapter XIII.
From 1800 till 1829 234
Chapter XIV.
The Church in Her Missionary Work 262
Chapter XV.
The Church in Her Educational Movements 270
Chapter XVI,
The Last Fifty Years 278
Chapter XVII.
Presbyterianism in the Other Provinces. Conclusion 293
HISTORY
OF THE
PIjESBYTERjAN CHURCH IN II[ELAND.
CHAPTER I.
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE CIVIL HISTORY OF IRELAND
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.
Little known of the Civil History of Ireland prior to the Christian era— Much of
what purports to be its history from that era till the English Conquest in the
Twelfth Century liable to grave suspicion — Early known as " The Sacred
Island " — Several alleged invasions and colonizations — Never was a nation in the
name sense in whi' England or Scotland was a nation, differing only in rela-
tive strength — Ruled by several petty kings— Who were often at war with
one another — Intervention of Romans sought— Given by Pope Adrian IV. to
Henry II.— Invasion by English barons— Conquest easy— No national army to
oppose them — Prendergrast quoted— The spread of the Gospel and the firm
maintenance of British power in Ireland, its best hope- Duty of Irishmen of
all classes and creeds.
kITTLE is known of the history of Ireland prior to
the Christian era, and much of what purports to
be its history from that era down till the time of
the English Conquest in the twelfth Century is
liable to grave suspic^'on. Dreaming monks and bardic annal-
ists, in the absence of known and ascertained facts, have not
hesitated to fill the void with tales, which, gathered to some
extent, from previous chronicles of little value, and resting
largely upon no higher authority than dim and uncertain
tradition, as it circulated among a highly imaginative but
ignorant and credulous people, can lay but little claim to
credence. A few facts are blended with a large amount of
what is obviously fabulous, and a history constructed, which
12 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
throughout its entire course, exhibits unmistakable traces of
its questionable origin. As we pursue the narrative under
the guidance of the laborious compiler, whose literary activ-
ity has evidently been stimulated into unwonted effusiveness
by a natural and excusable desire to gratify the cravings of
national vanity, the suspicion again and again arises that we
are moving among scenes as unreal as the visions of dream-
land. The people and events that are made to pass in review
before us are associated, in many instances at least, with so
much that is clearly mythical and legendary, that we can
hardly be charged with undue scepticism if we refuse to
believe that they ever had a real existence. We are carried
back to a period anterior to the flood, and all along the
centuries down till the time when the d wn of authentic
history gives promise of a more reliaV>le narrative, are re-
galed with stories which possibly contain some grains of
truth, but which, for the most part, are little better than a
mass of fables and absurdities.
We have no means of ascertaining who were the first
settlers in Ireland, at what time they entered the country,
or from whence they came. We are told, it is true, of suc-
cessive invasions and colonizations by Fir-Bolgs from Greece,
Tuatha de Danaan from Scandinavia, and Milesians from
Sj)ain ; but, as the last and latest of these events is said to
have taken place a thousand years before our era, when King
Solomon was reigning in Jerusalem, we are left in utter un-
certainty as to the reality of their occurrence. They may
have taken place, but the testimony entitling them to i-ank
among the veritable facts of history is wanting. One thing
is certain that the present inhabitants of Ireland are an
exceedingly mixed race, and that none of the several races
they include can establish an unquestionable claim to be
regarded as the veritable descendants of " the real Irish "
who first colonized the island. The Celt, a name that is
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND. 13
now used to designate representatives of various nationali-
ties, may properly claim that he has been longer a resident
in the land than the Saxon, but the one is just as truly a
stranger and an alien within its borders as the other.
Neither of them, therefore, can claim, on the ground of
original settlement, an exclusive right to the island. The
people of Antrim and Down are just as truly Irish as the
people of Cork or Galway, and the sooner this fact is recog-
nized by both parties, the better it will be for their common
country. It is also certain that from a remote antiquity
the inhabitants of Ireland were distinguished by an emin-
ently religious temperament, for, long before the dawn of
the Christian era, the country was known as " The Sacred
Island."
Ireland never was a nation in the same sense in which
England or Scotland was a nation, differing only in relative
strength. From the earliest times, its inhabitants were
divided into tribes, the head of each tribe or clan claiming
and exercising independent and exclusive authority within
his own territory. According to a MS. in the British
Museum, before the English inA'^asion, the number of such
tuaths or territories was over two hundred, and each seems
to have been under the government of at least one petty rig
or king. These petty chieftains, like the sovereigns of
large and powerful kingdoms in after times, were often at
war with one another, and their frequent and bitter feuds
involved the country in almost ceaseless bloodshed and
misery, seriously retarding its advancement along the path
of civilization, even after the introduction of Christianity.
Some of the more warlike and ambitious of them were for-
ward to aspire to unlimited supremacy over all the rest and,
in some instances, partially succeeded at different periods in
the history of the country in reaching the object of their am-
bition, but none of them was ever able to establish for himself
14 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
and his dynasty the sovereignty of the whole island. The
authority they severally exercised within their own territories
they were naturally anxious to preserve, and so successfully
did they, for the most part, guard this valued possession that
it was not till the Pope interfered, and handed them over to
the sovereignty of England that they lost it. Till then they
knew nothing of a common sovereign, whose authority
demanded their undivided allegiance ; and so free and
unfettered was the power they exercised as independent
potentates, that in their quarrels with one another, the
weaker was ready, in the absence of a supreme central
authority to which he might look for protection to invoke
foreign aid. As early as A.D. 82, a petty Irish King, who
had l)een driven from his throne by another but more power-
ful petty sovereign, applied to the Romans, who, a short time
before, had effected a settlement in England, for their inter-
vention and aid. The application was favorably regarded,
and, for a time, it seemed that Ireland was destined to be
added to the Empire of bhe "West. The Romans found,
however, more than enough to do in completing the subju-
gation of Britain, and, consequently, never crossed the Irish
Channel. The petty Irish King was left to fight his own
battles, and Ireland denied the quickening impulse of
Roman civilization. In A.D. 1155, Pope Adrian IV., whose
real name was Nicholas Breakspear, and who was the only
Englishman who ever filled the Papal chair, in the exercise
of his assumed power to dispose of the islands of the Sea as
he pleased, — a power which he is said to have inherited from
the gift of Constantine — issued a Bull, in which he conferred
the sovereignty of Ireland on Henry II., King of England,
reserving to himself all ecclesiastical rights, and requiring
the payment of one penny, equal, it is said, to fifty cents of
our present currency, for each house, to the Holy Roman
See. In this famous document, Ireland is described in
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND. 15
terras by no means flattering to its condition as a couiitry
that had long enjoyed the light of the Gospel. Henry
is authorized to enter it "to enlarge the borders of the
church, to teach the truth of the Christian faith to the
ignorant and rude ; to extirpate the nurseries of iniquity
from the field of the Lord, and to reduce the people to obe-
dience to laws." Sixteen years elapsed before the English
monarch was able to cross the Channel, and to take posses-
sion of the kingdom which the Pope had thus very com-
placently handed over to him as a gift, and which has ever
since remained subject to the English crown. In the mean-
time, however, circumstances arose which led to an earlier
assertion of British power in the island. A quarrel arose
between two of the petty Kings of the country, one of whom
lied to England, imploring Henry's assistance and offering,
as a reward for his services, to do him homai^e for his king-
dom as its Sovereign Lord. The assistance sought was
readily granted, especially as it furnished the English
monarch with a plausible pretext for an invasion of Ireland.
With hi.: permission, and by his authority, a number of
English burons, with their retainers, crossed over, re-
stored the suppliant chieftain to his throne, and pro-
ceeded, under the authority of the Pope's warrant, to
effect the subjugation of the island. The task was easy, be-
cause thei^ was no united nation to oppose them. They
never met in battle an army which represented Ireland, as
the army which encountered William the Conqueror at the
battle of Hastings represented England, or as the army
which encountered Edward II. at the battle of Bannockburn
represented Scotland. There was no national spirit to rally
thousands and tens of thousands of brave men in heroic en-
thusiasm around a national standard, no national army, no
national resistance. They even found in Irishmen them-
selves most willing allies in affecting the subjugation
16 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
of the country. Tribes that for ages had been arrayed in
bitterest hostility against certain other tribes eagerly lent
them their assistance. It is not with surprise, therefore,
that we learn that, when Henry, not long after, attended by
a strong military force, went over to claim the sovereignty
of the Kingdom, he encountered scarcely a shadow of op-
position. No combined national resistance was possible;
and one petty prince after another hastened to do him hom-
age. Prendergast, in his " History of the Plantation of
Ulster," — an authority that will hardly be questioned —
bears the following testimony : — " Now the Irish enemy,"
the native Irish population, " was no nation in the modem
sense of the word, but a race divided into many nations or
tribes, separately defending their lands from the English
barons in their immediate neighbourhood. There had been
no ancient national government displaced, no national dyn-
asty overthrown. The Irish had no national flag, nor any
capital city as the metropolis of their common country, nor
any common administration of the law ; nor did they ever
give a combined opposition to the Englisn ; the English,
coming in the name of the Pope, aided by the Irish bishops,
and with a superior national organization which the Irish
easily recognized, were accepted by the Irish. Neither King
Henry II. or King John ever fought a battle in Ireland."
During the five centuries that followed — from 1190 till
1688 — the country, though nominally subject to the English
Crown, continued in the same distracted and divided con-
dition. Tribe continued to war against tribe. Mutual
massacre and devastation was the one business of their lives.
Sometimes an entire tribe was exterminated by another and
its territory seized and occupied by the victors. The only
area of comparative peace and security, was the Pale, includ-
ing the four counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Louth,
within which English law was more or less fitfully enforced.
A TmiKF SKETCH OF TIIK CIVIL IIISTOUY. 17
I'jiLjIii lid's ('oiKiiKist of Ircliiiid liiis ot'Uiii Imumi iiiiuh! i\\c
sul>ji!ct of the storngest oondiMniiiitioii Wy Irish vvriLors uiid
det'Iiiimcrs, but tlic reul evil lay, not in the coiKiuest itself,
but in its inconqdotonoss. No iidcqutite moans wore taken
to assert tlu; authority of England and to enforce the
supremacy of English law within tlu! kingdom. The country,
for the most })art, was abandoned to the misrule and misery
that wen; almost inse[)arable from the existence of a large
number of petty chieftains who claimed independent sover-
eignty within their own territories, and who were often at war
with one another. As soon as English power was tirmly
established in the whole island, a marked and beneticial change
took place. Inter-tribal feuds and wars became impossible,
and the kingdom began to emerge from the wild bar-
barism that had been its chronic condition for ages. The
religion of the Reformation materially cojitributed to
further the gratifying change, particularly in the northern
section of the kinjxdom. Lookinj; at the beneficial re-
suits that have already flowed from these agencies, we feel
warranted in asserting that it is only in tjie firm mainten-
ance of the British power, and in the wide diffusion of the
Protestant faith throughout all its borders, that the com-
))lete emancipation of the country from the numerous ills
that have darkened its history, and its elevation to a level in
civilization with the other parts of the empire can be confi-
dently anticipated. The era ol the Protectorate, during which
the supremacy of Britain was most vigorously enforced, was
the era of its greatest prosperity, and those portions of it
where Protestantism is the most widely prevalent are incom-
parably the most progressive. Its geographical position
affords no uncertain indication that it should cultivate the
closest alliance with the larger and more poweiful island that,
in some places, is removed only by a few miles from its eastern
shores, and all the interests that can contribute to the pros-
2
18 PRESBYTERIAN CIIUROH IN IRELAND.
polity and liappiiioss of its people forl>i«l tlio sovomnco or
woiik(niing of tluj tins that link it with tlu^ liritish (.'rovvn.
Its inhabitants may have bocn place<l by an oppnsssive
irovernniont at a serions disadvantajio in the laco for k'tional
progress in tlie past ; but all tluj grievances of which they
may have had just reason to coni}>lain have either been
already redressed, or are certain to be speedily redressed by
the wiser and more beneficial legislation of these later and
more enlightened days. The attention that is now readily
given to Irish affairs in the Im])erial Parliament, and the
desire that evidently exists among Statesmen of all shades
of politics to do all that legislation can effect to promote the
progress and prosperity of the country, augur well for Ire-
land. It only remains that its inhabitants, remembering
that legislation has its limits, will, forever abandoning the
paths of lawless and disastrous agitation, and eagei'ly devot-
ing themselves to the task of turning to the best account
the numerous advantages that lie within their reach in the
varied natural resources of their native land, honestly and
diligently endeavour to elevate their country to a height ot
social enjoyment and national advancement that will bring
it into line with the other and more prosperous portions of
the Empire. One of their moLt admired national poets has
well said :
" How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure,
Still to ourselves, in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find."
Not, however, till they shall have rid themselves of the yoke
of the degrading superstition that still dominates the large
majority of them, will their island home become in the
words of another of their most admired national poets,
" Great, glorious, and free."
(JMAPThMl ir.
A niiiKF sK[]T(;ii OF Tin-: kcclesfastuial iustohy of
IllFLANI) FIIOM THK KAULIKSr TIMRS.
|)rui<liHin first form of rcli^'ioii in Ireland— Christianity early introduced— Testi-
nionius to this effect— Patrick , Ireland's jjreat missionary— Life— Lahours—
Success— The church he fo\uided— Its doctrines and polity -Not wholly Scrip-
tural and primitive — Mouasticism— Its peculiar character— Heiieficial— Ireland
a ureat centre of missionary operations I)istinj,'uiHhed missionaries — Columh-
killc— Columbamis, (lallus, Kilian, Furscy, and others Came to he known as
"The Isle of Saints" — The Church's decay -Causes— Strugj,de with Koine—
Intervention of Knj;lish power, and final overthrow.
HE oarly ecclesitustical history of Ireland is involved
in obscurity luii'dly less impenetrable than the dark-
ness that rests on its early civil history. Druidisni,
with its groves of oak, and sacred mistletoe, and
huge altars of stone, and mysterious rites, was, so far as
known, its earliest, and for ages, its only religion. The pre-
cise date, when the light of Christianity began to pierce the
gloom of its pagan darkness, is unknown ; but there is
sufficient evidence to warrant the statement that this great
event in its history occurred at an early period in our era.
Eusebius, the well-known Ecclesiastical historian, who
flourished in the fourth century, speaks of some of the
Apostles having crossed the ocean to the British Isles to
announce the glad tidings which their Master had bid them
preach to every creature. In the days of Chrysostom,
towards the end of the same century, " there were," in his
own words, " even in the British Isles that lie away in the
open ocean worshippers of God in Christ, and students of
Scrij)ture." In these statements, the phrase, *' The British
Isles," is somewhat indefinite, but there is reason to regard
20 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
it as pointing to Tiolaiid as uuioli as to lUitaiii, tbi-, accord-
ing to Tacituw, tliiougli tlio in(!(liuni of trade Iiv^land was
bettor known to sti'angeis than Britain. In tlio Annals of
the Four Masters, we are told that in the third century,
Cormac, the chief king of Ireland, provoked the wrath of
the Druids by turning from them " to the adoration of
God." We know that in the fourth century, Coelestius,
one of the leading Christian controversialists of his day, and
the intimate friend and companion of the celebrated Pelagius,
was an Irishman. Wo know also that earlv in the follow-
ing century, Christianity must have made considerable
I)rogress in the Island, for Prosper, a Frenchman who
flourished in this century, informs us in his Chronicon that,
in 431, " Palladius, being ordained by Pope Celistine, is
sent to the Irish believing in Christ as their first bishop."
But whilst it is certain that Christianity found an early
entrance into Ireland, winning converts from among the
sidluiients of the Druidical superstition that had for ages
reigned unchallenged in the island, no reliable record I'o-
mains to testify to the names of the zealous missionaries by
whose lips its divine message was first proclaimed, and by
whose labours its gracious triumphs were fiist achieved.
They died, and their names perished from off the face of the
earth, but there is reason to believe that the light they
enkindled was never wholly extinguished. As if confilently
anticipating ultimate triumph, it ceased not the apparently
hopeless struggle with the surrounding darkness until, in
the fifth century, it happily won the aniicpated triumph,
and clothed the whole island with the splendour of its
rays. This marked and marvellous advance in the history
of its progress is mainly to be ascribed, under God, to the
labours of Patrick, one of the most famous missionaries
the Church has produced since the days of the Apostles,
now universally recognized as tiie Apostle of Ireland.
BRIEF SKETCH OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 21
Littlo is certainly known of the life of this cohjbrated
missionary. So much tliat is manifestly legendary and
mythical has been associated with his name by writers of
the middle ages that several res[)ectable authorities have not
hesitated to question his existence. There can be no reason-
able doubt, however, .that he was a real personage, and that
he laboured as a missionary in Ireland for mtiny years in
the fifth century, achieving extraordinary success, and even-
tually reducing the whole island to obedience to the faith.
Three countries contend for the honour of his birth — Scotlan<l,
Wales, and France* From a piece of a brief autobiography,
which is still extant and which is regarded as genuine by critics
of all denominations, we learn that he was born in Armoric
Gaul, perhaps at Boulogne-Sur-Mer ; and that he was son of
the deacon Calpurnius and grandson of the presbyter Potitus
— facts which show that clerical celibacy was not then held
to be of universal obligation. At an early age, he was twice
carried captive into Ireland ; but as often he managed to
effect his escape. A short time after his second escape, and
when he was about twenty-two o!" twenty-three y(;ars of age,
he had a remarkable dream which left an indelible im[)res-
sion upon his mind and exerted a powerful influence upon
the whole of his subsequent career. •' I saw," says he, " in
a vision of the night, a man whose name was Victoricius
coming as if from Ireland, with innumerable letters, one of
which he handed to me, and I read the beginning of the
letter, which ran thus : 'The voice of the people of Ireland;'
and, while I was reading aloud the beginning of the letter,
I thought at that very moment, I heard the voice of those
who were in the Wood of Foclud," — supposed to have been
in Tirawley, County Mayo, — " which is by the Western Sea,
and they cried out thus: 'We entreat thee, holy youth, to
come and walk still among us.' And I was veiy much
22 PllESBYTKllIAN CHURCH IN lUELAND.
pricked to the liea' b, and could read no more, and so awoke."
As a child he had been instructed in the truth, but during
his earlier years the knowledge he had acquired had proved
of little practical value. It was not till adversity came that
a vital change was effected. In the midst of the privations
jind suffering he endured during his . captivity the Lord
brought him to a sense of the unbelief of his heart. " I was
from my childhood," he writes, "a believer in the only God;
but I continued in doubt and unbelief till I was sorely
chastened ; and, in truth, I have been humbled by hunger
and nakedness, and it was my lot to traverse Ireland every
day, sore against my will, until I was almost exhausted.
But this proved rather a benefit to me, because by means of
it I have been corrected by the Lord, and he has fitted me
for being, at this day, what wai once far from me, S3 that I
should interest or concern mvself about the salvation of
others, when I used to have no such thoughts even for my-
self." Having become the subject of such a vital change,
it seems only natural that he should accept the mysterious
dream with which he had been visited as a divine intimation
that he should become a missionary to Ireland. For the pur-
pose of qualifying himself for the work to which he felt
divinely called, he betook himself to the study of theology,
first, as some allege, under the famous St. Martin, of Tours,
who is reported to have been a near lelative of his mother,
and then, of Germanus, of Auxerre, making the Scriptures,
for which all his life after he cherished the most [)rofound
reverence, the chief source of his instructions.
It has been stated again and again that the mission of
Palladius, to which reference has already been made, having
proved a failure, Pope Celestine ordained Patrick, and sent
him to mak(5 another effort for the conversion of Ireland.
I>ut there is iiot the slight(!st trustworthy evidence to sustain
the statement. In his Confession Patrick altogether ignores
BRIEF SKETCH OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 23
any mission from Celestine. He never mentions either
Kome or the Po})e, or hints that he had any connection
whatever with the ecclesiastical capital of Italy. I is also
a significant circumstance that for nearly two hundred years
after his alleged papal mission, no reference to it or its
results, either by the Pope or any of his officials, is to be fouEd
in any of the numerous documents of the period that are still
extant. This silence is unaccountable on the supposition that
his mission to Ireland was by paj)al appointment, and
that it was so eminently successful as to have resulted in the
conversion of all Ireland to the faith, and in the establish-
ment of a large and flourishing church that was ever after
in close communion with the See of Home. The truth is
that Patrick, like Columbkille and Columbanus, and other
missionaries of a later date, knew nothing of the Pope as an
ecclesiastical superior, and gave himself little concern about
receiving the sanction of his investiture, cv that of any other
ecclesiastical authority whatever. He held what he regarded
as a divine commission to preach the gospel in Ireland, and
that was enough for him. Having finished his theological
studies, he set out for the country to which he felt drawn
by a divine and irresistible impulse, arriving about tlie
year 405, and continuing to prosecute his evangelistic labours
with indomitable perseverance and extraordinary success
till his death which, there are good reasons for believing,
took place at Saul, near Downpatrick, County Down, on
the 17th of March, 4G5.
A.S was to be expected, the devoted missionary encountered
o})position from different quarters. Ancient superstitions,
deeply rooted in the affections of a blind and bigoted people,
and sanctioned by long usage and established authority, are
not wont to surrender to a new faith without a struggle.
On more than one occasion he was thrown into prison, and
threatened with death. No tlifficulties or dangers, however,
24 PliaSBYTERlAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
could abate the ardour of his missionary zeal ; and the success
that attended his earnest and persevering labours has never
since been exceeded. " I am," says he, " greatly a debtor
to God, who has bestowed his grace so largely upon me, that
multitudes should be born again to God through nie ; and
that of these, clergy should be evei-y where ordained for a
people lately coming to the faith. . . . The Irish, who never
had the knowledge of God, and worshi})ped only idols and
unclean things, have lately become the [)eople of the Lord
and are called the Sons of God." It has been said that the
success that attended the labours of this devoted and intre[)id
missionary was largely due to the miracles that he wrought.
But all the miraculous achievements, often of the most
ridiculou.i character, that have been imputed to him, are
nothing more nor less than inventions of wiiters of the
Middle ages. He himself made no pretensions to the work-
ing of miracles. He relied for success entirely on the simple
preaching of the Word ; and it is worthy of record that in
unfolding its doctrines, he seems never to have been at a loss
for an answer to the objections which his rude and
unenlightened auditors were naturally [)rompted to offer.
It is stated that on one occasion, when preacliing on
the Trinity, one of those who heard him having stated
that he could not see how three could be one, he stooped
down, and, picking up a trefoil that grew at his feet, illus-
trated the doctrine by showing him the three leaves growing
out of one stem — a circumstance which, it is sjiid, led to the
adoption of the shamrock as the national emblem of Ireland.
The failure of Palladius in his mission to Ireland is easily
accounted for.
In the year 429, two French Bishops visited England for
the purpose of assisting its orthodox clergy in suppressing
the Pelagian heresy, which had begun to infest the church
in South Britain. It is highly probable that during their
BRIEF SKETCH OF ETCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 25
stay they hoard of the great and successful work that Patrick
was carrying on in the neighVjoring Island. At tlie time,
there was a constant corres[)ondence kept n[) between Italy
and Gaul ; and, shortly after their return homo, the news of
the great religious movement in Ireland must have reached
the ears of the chief pastor of the Metropolis of Western
Christendom. As the Roman Pontiff knew nothinir of
Patrick, and had just learned that there were already be
lievers in Christ in Hibernia, he sent Palladius, as already
stated, to be their first bishop. But the Romish emissary,
on his arrival in the Westei'n Isle, met with an}- thing but a
cordial reception. Patrick, whose labours had been j)rose-
cutcd with great energy and [)erseveranco for fully a quarter
of a centu.iy previous, had already established a flourishing
church of a more primitive and Apostolic order than
the church at Rome, and was not prepared to surrender
its iiovernmeut into the hands of a Romish ecclesiastic. So
stoutly did he op[)ose the interference of the pa[)al emissary,
and so thoroughly at one with him in his opposition was the
church that had sprung up under his ministrations that
Palladius found it convenient to retire from the Iiish shores,
and to transfer his episcopal labours to North Britain,
wlua-e, not long afterwards, he died of fever in what is now
known as Kincardineshire. Thus began in the Irish church
that decided resistance of Romish aggression that was vigor-
ously and successfully maintained till the twelfth Century
when the strong arm of English })ower enforced the suj>rem-
acy of the papacy throughout the island. England's treat-
ment of Ireland has not always been ol' the most friendly
character, but unquestionably her great crime against the
sister island h;is been thrusting popery on its church and
people. " Wo are bound to renuMuber," says Dr. Words-
worth, in his History of the Irish Church, " that in a groat
measure we owe our English Ciiristianity to Ireland, and
26 PKEBYTEKIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
alas ! we may not -forget that Ireland owes her Roinaiiisiu
to us."
It is certain that the Church formed by Patrick in Ire-
land was neither Romish nor prelatic. In the free and
commanded use of the Scriptures, the inculcation of the
doctrines of grace and of the efficacy of the sacrifice and inter-
cession of Clirist, without the remotest allusion to any of
the peculiar dogmas of Rome ; in the rejection of the Pa[)al
supremacy, the marriage of the clergy, and the Scriptural
character of the bisho})s, each having charge of only one parish,
and being aided in his labours by a plurality of i)resbyters
or elders, it presented more of a resemblance to the Presby-
terian model than to any other. And the same type
that it assumed as it grew up under the ministrations
of its famous founder, it continued to bear in all essential
particulars until, after a hard struggle stretching over several
centuries, it was eventually brought under the Romish yoke
by the intervention of English power. Nennius, who is
supposed to have flourished in the ninth century, affirms
that Patrick founded in Ireland three hundred and sixty-five
churches, and *' consecrated tlie same number of bishops."
Another earlier authority bears similar testimony. At the
time Ireland did not probably contain more than from two
to three hundred thousand inhabitants, so that these conse-
crated bishops could have been nothing more than ordinary
preachers^ charged with the spiritual oversight of parishes
that severally could not have embraced on the average more
than nine hundred people; a number which is far exceeded
by multitudes of Presbyterian congregations in our own
times. At a much latter date the Irish Church coutinued
to exhibit the same primitive and Scriptural polity. Aengus,
the Culdee, writing in the ninth century, was able to enum-
erate no less than 141 places in the island, in each of which
there were, or had been, seven contemporary bishops ; a fact
lUJIIOl'' SKKTCII Ob' K(JCLKSIASTI(JAL IMSTOllY. 27
wliicli makes it clear that as Patrick had proceeded on the
principle that wherever a congregation could be collected, a
bishop should be a[)pointed to its si)iritual oversight, the
same arrangement continued in existence for centuries
afterward.
It was natural that the Church founded by Patrick in
Ireland should in its principles and polity be of the type
described. It was the type of the Church of the New
Testament ; it was, moreover, the type of the Church of
Brittany, the land of his birth ; and it is reasonable to
expect that he should transfer to Ireland a system of
l>olity and worship that commended itself to his approval by
such powerful considerations. We are not to suj)})ose, how-
ever, that the Church he founded was in all respects conformed
to the Scriptural model. When he began his evangelistic
labours, four centuries had passed over the Christian Cliurch,
bringing with them in their course a considerable departure
in many quarters from the arrangements of the days of
the Apostles. The Church in Brittany had not altogether
escaped the prevailing errors of the times, and we are not to
siip})ose that the great missionary pi inted in Hibernia a
better form of Christianity than that in wliich he had been
eilucated. As the tifth century opened, a strong liking for
the monastic system which had long before been incorporated
into the polity of the Eastern Churches spread throughout
the West with great rapidity. There is reason to believe
that Patrick carried with him to Ireland an ardent admira-
tion for the popular innovation ; and that, finding that a
kindred system was already in full operation in the pagan
worship that prevailed in the island, he was all the more in-
clined to give it a place in the Church that he founded.
There was one important feature, however, which distin-
guished the monasteries he established from institutions of
the same name to be found elsewhere. They were essentially
28 PRESIJYTHillAN ClIUKiCn IN IKKLAND.
schools for the education of tlie )K50j)le, and more jnirticularly
seminai'ies for the training of ministers cf tlie Word. As
sncli, they were eminently beneficial, and contrihuted very
largel}'^ to the knowledge of the truth and the spread of the
Gospel. From their cloisters there went forth, thoroughly
equipped for their work, not a few of the most noted mis-
sionaries of later times, by whom the light of the (ilos[>el was
diffused not onlv throughout Britain but also ihrou'diout
large sections of Europe. Of these missionaries Columbkille
and Columbanus were the most noted.
Columbkille wus born at Gartan, County Donegal, in 521,
and is known as the Apostle of the Northern Picts, who
])eopled the western region of the Highlands of Scotland.
In the forty-second year of his age, attended by twelve com-
panions, he pMssed over to Hy or lona, a small island on the
western coast of the counti y that was to be the scene of his
future labours, where he established an institute which lone
enjoyed the highest celebrity as a school of the jirophets, and
from which there went forth a succession of able and devoted
missionaries bv whom the torch of divine truth was carried
not only throughout a large part of Britain, but also through
out not a few of the dark places of the continent. " When
Justin, the younger, the successc'r of Justinian, had the gov-
ernment of the Roman empire, there came into Britain," says
Bede, " a famous ])resbyter and abbot, a monk by habit and
life whose name was Columba, to preach the word of God to
the provinces of the northern Picts, who are separated from
the southern parts by steep and rugged mountains.
Columba came into Britain in the ninth year of the reign of
Bridius, who was the son of Meilochon, and the powerful
king of the Pictish nation ; and he converted that nation to
the faith of Christ by his preaching and example— where-
upon he also received from them the island (lona) foi' a
monastery ; for it is not very large, but contains about live
BRIEF SKETCH OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 29
f'aiiiili«'.s. !U!0()r(liiii^ to tlu; Kiii^lisli coiiumtiitioii. His sue
ccssofs lioM till! i.sluiid to this (l;ty ; lio vvus jiIsd IhiiumI
tluMciii, liaviiig iliccl at tlic iii^i; of scvoiitysevini, about
Uiiity-two years after he came into Urit-iiu to preach.
That ishincl lias for its ruler an abbot, who is a presbyter, to
wliose jurisdiction all the province, and even the bishops,
according to an unusual arrangement, are subject, after the
example of tlie first teacher who was not a bishop but a
presbyter and monk, of whose life and discourses some
writings are said to be preserved by his disciples." It is
evid(!nt from this clear and ex})licit statement of the vener-
able Bade, that episco[)acy was unknown in the ecclesiastical
system established by Columbkille, and it is certain that the
planting of Christianity in a large part of Britain is to be
ascribed to the labours of presbyters who never recinved the
imposition of episcopal hands. It is to presbytery therefore,
and not to episco})acy that we are to look for the early
ecclesiastical ancestry of the present churches of North and
South Britain.
Columbanus, the other distinguished missionary to whom
we have referred, was the disciple of Comghall, Abbot of
Bii'igor, County Down, who, as a teacher, had acquired
wide celebiity, and whose monastic establishment is said to
have contained at one time several thousand students. In
589, when somewhat advanced in life, he was seized with
an irrepressible desire to preach the gospel to the heathen.
Setting out like Columbkille with twelve companions, he at
first passed over into South Britain. From thence he made
his way successively to France, Switzerland, and Italy. In
all these lands he laboured with great zeal and faithfulness,
and did much to disseminate the knowledge of the tiuth
among their pagan and idolatrous inhabitants. Of the
twelve companions who accompanied him to the continent,
the best known is Gallus, who laboured chiefly in Switzer-
80 PRESRYTKRIAN CIIUHCII IN IRELAND.
land, oiK^ of tin; cantons of vvliich still pcrpotuutos liis name,
and wlioHc; l.ibours won; ao eminently snec(!.ssful that 1k5 lias
been called by some the Apostle of Switzculand.
About this time Kilian, Fnrsey, Livin, Fiidolin, and many
other Irishmen won honourable distinction in the field of
missionary enterprise. Without attemi)tinf; a narrative of
their labours, it may suffice to state that all these eminent
and successful h(a-alds of the cross were thoroughly in
structed in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and that
their love of Bible truth was the ])arent of their evan-
gelistic zeal. The religion that they laboured to dissem-
inate was essentially the same Scriptural faith that is en-
shrined in the standards and preached in the pulpits of our
I)rotestant churches at this hour. There is a wide interval
of many centuries between their days and ours ; but as the
same sun that shone upon them shines u})on us, the same
faith that irradiated their darkness enlightens ours, giving
to them even as it gives to us the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It may also be
stated that from this time and onward till the close of the
eight century, Ireland occupied the foremost place among
European nations as a seat of learning and piety. The con-
dition of the country was favourable to the cultivation of
literature and religion. " Though by no means free from
domestic feuds, it was, as compared with other lands, in the
enjoyment of quiet and prosperity. When England was
conquered by the Saxons, and when the West of Europe was
invaded by the Northern barbarians, it remained free from
foreign aggression." The fame and eminence of the semi-
naries of learning in which it abounded, attracted students
to its shores from all quarters, and the hosts of able and
accomplished scholars and zealous missionaries that went forth
from these institutions to fill positions of prominence and in-
fluence in those lands in which Christianity was already estab-
lished, and to convey the knowledge of it to those lands in
BRIEF SKETCH OF ECCLESIASTK.'AL HISTORY. 31
\vlii(tli it was wholly unknown, gavo it a just claim to the
(li'sii,'nation," Isl(! of Saints," l)y which, from tho sovnth cent-
ury and onwards, it was generally known. We greatly mis-
take, liowevor, if wo imagine that this designation furnishes
a correct idea of the gen(!ral character of its population-
The country still retained traces of its earlier barbarism.
The people for the most part wore but ill instructed in the
knowledge of the truth, and many of them, in tlieir habits
and practices, still continued to walk in the ways of their
pagan ancestors. The jietty kings were fre«piently engaged
in bitter hostilities, and in war both sexes marched to the
battle field. Even the monastic establishments often exhib-
ited a sad lack of the spirit of the gos[)el. Like the petty
kingdoms that surrounded them, they were not unfrequently
at variance with one another, and when a quarrel arose, the
brethren did not hesitate to don the warrior's garb and to
decide the contest on the battlefield. Nor need such things
greatly surprise us. A country is not lifted out of barbarism
in a day. The wilderness is not made all at once to blossom
as the rose. Time is required for the growth of the virtues
that Christianity enjoins and fosters. Even ages may pass
away before they reach their full development in a land
that the gospel has rescued from a long reign of pagan
superstition. Had the Church founded by Patrick in Ire-
land been left free to do its appropriate work, unhindered
by Romish aggressions on the one hand, or by Barbarian
ravages on the other, the country must have ultimately
responded to the quickening and elevating power of its
ministrations, and risen to a height of moral excellence and
material prosperity that would have justified the glowing
representations of its alleged ancient greatness in which some
writers of its history have not hesitated to indulge.
From the fifth Century and onwards to the close of the
eighth, the Irish Church enjoyed a large measure of prosperity.
33 IMIKSHYTKIIIAN CIIUKCII I^f IIIKLAND.
It vv.is ('iniiK'Titly a liviiij^ and cvani^'clical climvli, and tlit'
work tliat it did, diiriiii; tli(5 \n\vjf iiitiMval, in civanijislizinj^
lii-itain and larijc p()itit)ns ot" llu) (Jonlincnt, through tho
agency ot" tlie able and acc(jnj})lishod nii.ssionaiies tliat wont
f'ortli from its communion, must over bo regarded as tlio
brightest jewel in tlio crown of its glory. But as the ninth
century opened, tlu; sun of its |)ros[)ority bisgan to decline,
and, ero the twcdfth had run its course, had gone down in
darkness. Various causes contributed to this unhai)[)y le-
sult, tho more imjiortant of which claim a bri(^f notice.
Though tho Irish Church was essentially Scriptural in its
doctrines and woi'ship from the commencement of its history,
a Romanzing tendency began to manifest itself at a compara-
tively early period within its communion. This tendency
was considerably strengthened by an event that took place
just as the sixth century was hastening to its close.
Christianity was introduced into South Britain at a very
ea.ily period, and during the third and fourth centuries the
church in that land was large and flourishing. But in
the middle of the fifth century it experienced a serious
reverse. When the Pagan Saxons invaded the country
they waged a war of extermination against all who bore
the Christian name, and the remnant who escaped their
fury sought refuge in Wales. In 597, the same year
in which Colunibkille died, the monk Augustine, accom-
panied by forty companions, arrived in England, deputed by
Pope Gregory tho Great to attempt the conversion of the
Pagan invaders who had then taken possession of the country.
These Italian missionaries were not long in England until
they came into collision with the British clergy. They
attempted to reduce the native Clnu'ch to a full conformity
to the Romish model, but the British ecclesiastics were not
disposed tamely to bow their necks to the Romish yoke.
They had received their Christianity from a purer source
BRIEF SKKTCII OF ECCLKoIASTKJAL IIISTOUY. 33
tliiui Roiiu), and, iiistojid of suhmittiiig icudily to the dictates
of the jKipiil df'l(3<,'ation, n'j«!cted tliinii with iiidigiiaiit disdain.
So decidod wore thity in their o|»|)ositiou, that they even
refused, says one who was then an adhcnent of the Uoniish
|(arty, "to join praytns with us in tlie eliurcli, or to sit at
meat at the same tablt) witli us in the kindly inteieourst; of
society." Shortly after tlieir arrival in Eni,dand, tlicsc
Romish emissaries turned th(!ii- attcsntion to Irehmd also,
hut the Irisli clergy, following the ('xami)lo of their bretiiien
in ouuth Britain, repelled their advances, and refused to
hold communion with them. Theii' intcrfensnct!, how-
ever, wius not altogether fruitless. It did much to encourage
the Romanizing party, who, after a long and arduous
struggle, in the course of which the country was often
involved in civil war and bloodshed, tinallv succeeded in
reducing the Irish Church to subjection to the See of ilome.
In the early part of the twelfth century, tin; struggle
assumed a more definite and diitermined charactei-. In
1,110, a memorable Synod was held at llathbreasail, at
which Gillebert, the most zealous Irish advocate of Roman-
ism, and t\ni first apostoH'' legato ever ap[)ointed in Ireland,
presided. This synod inaugurated a complete revolution in
the policy of the Irish church. Hitherto, the i>arochial
bishops, who were simply pastors of congregations, had en-
joyed the inde[)endence of Presbyterian i)arity ; but by
a decree of tliis Synod they were [>laced under the
government of twenty-three bishops and two archbishops,
It was not to be expected that a decree of so revolutionary
a character would meet with general acceptance. More than
forty years after it was promulgated, it was found to \ni
very imperfectly obeyed. Multitudes of " parochial bishop-
rics " still existed. In order to complete the work that the
Synod of Rathbreasail had begun, another Synod was held
in March, 1152, at Kells, County Mayo, under the presi-
34 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX IRELAND.
(leiicy of Ciudiual Pciparo, the pai)al legate. At this Synod,
the sclieme of episcopal distribution adopted at the former
Synod was enlarged, and no less than thirty-eiglit dioceses
were now constituted. But this arrangement met with j ust as
little acce))tance as the former. It is certain that sixty -four
years afterwards, it was little more than a dead letter. The
work, however, on which Rome had set her heait, and lor
the accomplishment of which she had long and keeidy
struggled, was now on the eve of successful execution.
Ireland, by the gift of tlie Pope, became an appanage of the
English Crown, and, by the strong arm of the English power,
the Irish Church was forcibly deprived of her ancient purity
and independence, and com[>elled to yield obedience to the
Papal Supremacy.
Another cause that materially contributed to effect the
decadence and overthrow of the ancient Irish Church was
the frequent irruptions into the country of fieebooters from
Denmark and Norway, which began as the eight century
was drawing to a close, and were continued throughout the
two following centuries, and until they were effectually
checked by the memorable battle of Clontarf, under the
celebrated Brian Boru, in the year 1,014. These long-
continued incursions were conducted witli great barbarity.
The country was laid waste far and wide, th" churches
and monasteries were pillaged and destroyed, multitudes
of the clergy were murdered, and the people who escaped
the geneial devastation reduced to degrading servitmle.
Had Ireland been united under one Sovereign, able to rally
around him, at such a crisis, a loyal and patriotic people, it
could easily have hurled the invaders fi-om its shores.
But it w.is so weakened by internal divisions, and dis-
tracted by domestic feuds, that it was incapable of
offering a combined resistance to the daring adventurers.
?^ome oveu of the petty potentates of the isly-ad were bi^ye
BRIEF SKKTCII OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 35
enougli, yielding to the promptings of soltish ambition,
to unit(; with tlie invaders, and to aid them in their
work of devastation and plunder. Under such ciiciim-
stancfis, we are not sur[>rised to learn that, in process of
time, the country was reduced to a condition of l>arbarism,
and that the Church, sadly disabled in all the arms of
her strength, became a readier prey to tlie inroads of
sn))eistition. When the English conquest followed in the
twelfth century, and Romanism was forced upon the Irish
])eople by the strong arm of the English power, the decad-
ence of the church became more marked and accelerated.
The glory of the days was gone, when swarms of accom-
])lished scholars and devoted missionaries went forth from
the Irish shores to build up and to propagate the truth in
many lands. Bishops and archbishops were not ashamed to
live in open adultery. The monks and inferior clergy be-
came notorious for the most scandalous profligacy. Learn-
ing was reduced to a very low ebb, and the spirit of true
religion almost wholly disappeared. The j)eople of all ranks
and classes sank into the grossest ignorance and sujieistition.
The island, to which the designation " Isle of Saints " had
been accorded for ages, was turned into one of the vilest
dens of h?iquity in Christendom, and the misery and wretch-
edness that have never since abandoned its shores became as
widespread as the hovels that dotted its surface and shel-
tered its degraded and <lemoralized })0})ulation. Such was
the lamentable condition to which the enforced acce[)tance of
Ilomaniani speedily reduced the Irish Church and the Irish
people. And such was the dej)lorable state in which the
Reformation found both alike when it first claiuied th dr
attention. As we contemplates the dark and distressing
picture, and remember that it still continues to furnish no
inadequate representation of the temporal and spiritual condi-
tion of the great majority of the Irish people, we are cheered
36 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
by the assurance that the light of a better day shall yet
dawn upon the island, rolling away for ever the darkness that
has long overshadowed its hills and vales, expelling from all
its borders the numberless calamities that for ages have
made it a by-word among the nations of the earth, and
diffusing among the thousands and t^ns of thousands of its
population the varied priceless ble.sSi. ^ that flow with un-
erring certainty from the general and cordial reception of
the truth.
THE REFOUMATfOX. 37
CHAPTER III.
THE REFORMATION — IN IRELAND.
The Irish devoted to the Papacy — Unfavourable dronmstances ttttending the intro-
duction of the Refoimation — Quariel of Henry VIII. with the Pope- Over-
throw of the Pope's supremacy in England— in Ireland— The Reformation in
the reign of Edward VI.— of Mary- Elizabeth— Measures for its promotion
in Elizabeth's reign— Opposition from Rome— Papal bulls— The Jesuits in
Ireland-Rebellion renewed again and again — Its conse(|uence8 — Wretched
state of the country — The memory of Elizabeth unjustly aspersed.
HOUGH the Irish Church was tlio hist of tlio
National Churches of the West to surrender its
independence and submit to the supremacy of the
Poi)e, it has since ching to the servitude it was
ultimately compelled to accept with remarkable tenacity.
For centuries, Irish Romanists have been the most ardent
su[)porters the Papacy could inimber among the millions of
its adherents, as well as the most persistent ojjponents of
evangelical truth. Unhappily the Reformation, when it first
challenged their acceptance, came to them in circumstances
that were ill-fitted to win for it a favourable hearing. It
came to them as an exotic, transplanted to their shores by si
Government they had long bo(m accustomed to regard with
dislike, associated with the hated domination of foreigners.
No Reformer arose from among themselves, like Luther in
Germany or Knox in Scotland, to instruct them in its prin-
ciples, or to lead them to an intelligent reception of its
message. It was presented to them, not in the fullness of
its own divine excellence, but in a diluted condition, and by
persons whose character, in many instances at least, was
little likely to command their respect. It was urged u{)on
tlndr accej)tance, not by patient teaching and kin<lly i)ersua-
38 tREShVTKhlAN CJIURCH IN IRELANI).
sion, but by royal authority, enforced by pains and penalties
that necessarily associated it in their minds with an oppres-
sive tyranny. It found tliem sunk in the grossest ignojance
and su[)erstition, utterly destitute of a spirit of enquiry, and
content to yield i.he most abject subjection to a priesthood
liardly less ignorant and degraded than t,hemselves. Tt also
encountered serious hindrances to its reception in the dis-
turbed state of the country, its limited commercial inter-
course, and its want of schools and colleges, and of books
printed in the language of the peoj>le. Yet, unfavourable as
the conditions were that surrounded its early introduction
into the island, had suitable measures been employed to
impart to the ])eople the knowledge of its principles ; had
the Scriptures, printed in their own language, been put into
their hands ; had persons " instructed into the Kingdom
of Heaven," " able ministers of the New Testament," Ciipable
of declaring to tliem in their own tongue the wonderful
works of God, been appointed, as speedily as possible and in
adequate su[)ply, to labour among them in word and doctrine,
Ireland would probably have been to-day as largcily Piotes-
tant as either England or Scotland. Ignorant and super-
stitious as the people were, in s[)ite of their [)riesthood, who
op])osed with veluunence, and often with violence, the dis-
semination of the tiuth among them, th(?y evinced on several
notable occasions no little interest in the new learning by a
ixmarkable eagerness to possess themselves of copies of the
Scriptures, and to be made acquainted with their contents.
And, in every instance in which able, (earnest, evangelical
ministers were appointed to labour among them, such as
Bale of Ossory, they manifested marked readiness to give
heed to its claims, and not a few of them cordially embi*aced
its j)rincii>les and became earnest in its i)rofession and zealous
in its propagation.
The Papal supremacy in England was always distasteful
THE IlluFORMATION. 3U
to ;i portion of the people, and on morn th:in one occiision
Lli"ir sovereigns manifested a very decided disjjosition to cast
it off as an intolerable burden. With strict historical accu-
racy, Shakespeare, in one of his plays, represents King John
as sending a message to Pope Innocent III. that —
" No Italian priest
Shall tithe or tod in our dominions ;
But as we, under heaven, are supreme head,
So under Him, that Great Supremacy,
Where we do reign we will alone uphold,
; NVithout the assistance of a mortal hand.
/ So tell the Pope, all reverence set apart
\ To him and his usurped authority."
But the power of the priesthood, whose interests lay in
maintaining the servitude, was too strong even lor them, and
all their efforts for its abolition only resulted in huiniliuting
ilefeat. At length Henry VIII. succeeded in throwing otl'
the liated yoke, transferring to himself the ecclesiastical
authority the Pope had exercised for centuries.
Henry was crowned king in 150'J, being at the time in
the eighteenth year of his age. In 1521, when the Reforma-
tion was thrilling all Germany, he entered the lists as an
antagonist of " Martin Luther, the heresiarch," anil in
return for his polemical book upon the Sacraments, was
lionoured by Leo X. with the title of *' Defender of the
Faith." Little did either of them imagine that the same
hand that had so yaloi'ously supported the Pa[)al cause
would, ere long, deal it one of the heaviest blows it had
ever received.
Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII., was mar-
ried Nov. 14, 1501, to Catherine, daughter of Feidinand,
King of S|)ain. The Prince, however, died in the following
April, and his thrifty lathei', unwilling to restore the dowry
of so gieat an heiress, conceived the idea of uniting tlu^
young widow in marriagii with his other son, tin; future
40 PRESRYTKIMAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Homy VIII. • Minriago with a deceased brotlier's wife
V)einor contrary to tlio canon law, lu» procured a bull of dis-
pensation from Pope Julius II., and the miptials were (hily
solemnized shortly after the accession of the roval bride-
groon) to tlie throne of his ancestors. In process of time
several children were born to the wedded pair, but they all
died in infancy, with the exception of Mary, who lived to
become Queen in fiiture years. It is said that the Kiag
began at an early period to entertain scruples regarding tiue
lawfulness of his marriage, and that the death of his chil-
dren awoke within his mind a superstitions feeling that hii?
sci'iiples had received divine confii-matioii. Dissatisfied wit\
his position, and in the hope of obtaining immediate relief',
he made his scruples known to the Pontiff, who, doubtless,
would liave at once acceded to his wishes and i>ranted him a
divorce, had he not been restrained by the fear of giving
offence to Charles V., Em[)eror of Germany, the moft
powerful ])otentate of liis time, and nej)hew of the womai
whose honour and interests were at stake. The nf^gotiations
that followed, and that were carried on for years, need no
further reference. On one pretext or another the Pope
managed to delay the decision. By the advice of Cranmei
Henry consulted the universities at home and on the Conti-
nent, and obtained from not a few of the best canonists in
Eui-ope a judgment in his favour. Fortified by this decision,
and exasperated l)y the temporizing policy of the Court of
Rome, he broke with the Papacy altogether, and by royal
edict issued on the 9tli of June, 1534, declared the Pope's
authority at an end in his dominions. Parliament, which
by several previous Acts, had greatly curtailed the Papal
supremacy, now abolished it altogether, and, by public
statute, ordered " I'hat the King^ our Sovereign Lord, his
heirs and successors. Kings of these realms, shall be taken,
accepted, and reputed the only supreme liead on earth of
THE REFORMATION. 41
the Church of England, cmUimI the " Anglicana Kcch.'sia."
Tliis was followed by other measures which greatly
diminished the ecclesiastical power, and powei fully drow the
higher classes to the support of the policy of th(^ Kijig. The
monasteries were suppressed, the mitred abbots removed
from the U})[)er House, and their lands divided among the
nobility and gentry.
Thus, the kingdom of England was severed from the
Papacy. The separation, however, was litth^ more than
political. Romanism was still the national creed. The King
himself continued to the end of his days to hold firmly by
almost all its superstitions. Meanwhile, however, evangelical
religion was making steady ])rogres!; among the people, and
ere the century had completed its course had reached an
ascendency which it has never since lost, and which, w(»
hope, it will never cease to retain.
After Henry had consummated his quarrel with the Pope
by publicly renouncing his supremacy, he lost no time in
enforcing his own ecclesiastical authority in evei-y ])art of
his dominions. In 1535, he sent commissioners to Ireland
to proclaim the royal supremacy and to demand the sub-
mission of the prelates. Of the agents whom he employed
on this important errand, the most active was Gc^orge Ihown,
who had been provincial of the Augustinian order in Eng-
land, and who was consecrated Archbishop of Dul)lin in
March of the same year. On his arrival in Dublin the royal
commissioner summoned a me(^ting of the principal clergy
and nobility of the kingdom, and laid befon? them his instruc-
tions. Nothing, however, was accomplished. The clergy,
headed by Archbishop Cromer of Armagh, refused com[)li-
ance with the royal mandates, and fjr nearly a year no
further efTort was made to secure submission. But in May
of the year following, a meeting of Parliament was held at
which the royal wishes found the fullest i*ecogniti(m in
42 PllKSnYTRUIAV CIIUtlCH IN IIlEt.ANI).
several stringoiit enactments by which tlin Kinij was declared
the suprenu^ lioad of tli«^ (Jl)urch on earth, tlie autlmrity of
the Pope was soleujidy renounced^ the sn|)j)orters of the
Papacy were declared j^uilty of liiufh trcvison, all aj)peals to
Rome were strictly forbidden, sevcM'al ivli^^ons houses were
dissolved, and all jx'rsons who should slander the King, or,
on account of these? innovations, style liim usurjjer or
tyrant, were m;ide subjc^ct to severe penalties. But though
the royal su])rcmacy was thus publicly acknowledged and
declared, little vvas done to })romote the religious reformation
of the country. Jt is true. Archbishop Brown, at the express
command of Lord Cromwell, the King's favourite Minister
in England, ordered images and relics, that had so largely
ministered to superstition, to be lemoved from the churches.
JTe also published for the use of the clerj:y a form of prayer
in English, containing petitions for the Catholic Church,
the King, and some others, which were to be taught to the
people. Translations into English of the Lord's Prayer, the
Hail Mary, the Creed, and thn Ten Commamlments besides
were put into circulation. Yet, so little was done that was
r<!ally fitted to promote the spii'itual instruction of the pe()[)le
that it is doubtful if, when the King died, there was even
one intelligent i)rofessor of the; Ileformed faith in all Ulster,
Connaught or Munster.
During the reign of Edward VI., the Reformation mad<^
rapid strides in England, but hardly any rcial advancement
was ]>erceptible in Ireland. A new Primate, Dowdall, who
had been appointed in 1543, was secretly (hivoted to the
Paj)acy and adverse to all changes both in dogma and in
ritual. His influence, it is ti'ue, was sonu^what coimteracted
by the efforts of Archbishop Brown, at whose suggestion a
royal proclamation was issued recpiiring the English Couimon
Player Book to be used throughout the kingdom in the
celebration of Divine worship. One section of the bishops
tllK UEFORMATION. 4.1
jicqiiinsced in tliis urranf^omont, and the now service was
iu;cor(lin<jjly celeVmitod for the first time in " Clirist Ohiircli "
Catliedral, Diihlin, on tlie Kaster Suiuhiy of 1551. In the
s:mie year, instructions were given for rendering the wliole
Prayer Book into Irish, but unha})j>ily these instructions
were not carried out.
Though hy such means the Keformation was j)ublicly
recognised and outwai-d confoi-mity to the Esta))lished worship
enforced, tlie great majority, both of the clergy and people,
still adhered to the tenets and practices of the Church of
Rome. Accordingly, when Mary, who was a bigoted
Romanist, ascended tiie throne, they immediately openly
returned to the Romish ritual. The Papal supremacy was
re-established ; the pi-elates who favoured the Reformation
were ejected from their sees, whilst those — the great majority
— who complied with the new order of things were left
undisturbed in tlieir i)ositions. Tiu^ [)ersecutions of the
Protestants, of England in this resign, which earned for
this feeble-minded and fanatical queen the infamous designa-
tion of " Bloody Mary," form onti of the darkest and saddest
chapters in the history of South Biitain Strange to say,
Ireland escaped the (exterminating fuiy of the bigoted and
merciless sovereign. The number of Protestants appears to
have been too few and insignificant to provoke any ap-
prehensions for the security of the Romish faith in this
favoured "island of saints." Ireland, tiierefore, became an
asylum for the ])ersecuted Protestants of England, who, being
well instructed in Christian truth and zealous in its pro[)aga-
tion, did more during their sojourn to [)romote the cause of
the Reformation in the island than lia<l hitherto been accom-
plished by all the royal proclamations and other authoritative
measures that had been })ut into 0[)eration. It was soon
made manifest, however, that the safety they enjoyed would
not be of long continuance. In May, 155G, Viscount Fitz-
41 PRESRYTKRIAN OITURCII TN TRELAND.
waiter eiit(!r(?(l on his duties as Viceioy, and the instructions
lie received from liis royal Mistress in I'elatiou to religion
su|>|>]ied no uncertain in<licatioii of lier purpose! to root Pro-
testantism out of the country. The Lor<l-I)eputy and his
Council were recjuii'ed "by their example and all good means
pOKsihle to advance the honour of God and the Catholic
faith ; to set forth the honour and dignity of the Pope's
IFoliness and See A])Ostolic of Rome; and from time to
time to he rciidy, with their aid and secular force, at the
request of all spiritual ministers and ordinaries, to punish
and rc])ro.ss nil heretics ami Lollards, and thoAr damnable
sects, opinions, and errors" The Irish Parliament met in
June of the s.une year, and among the Acts that it passed
was one })r()viding for the })m.^'shment of heretics. It
revived three statutes made in the reigns of Richard II.,
Heniy IV., and Henry V., which declared that " all persons
preaching or teaching, or evidently suspected of preaching or
teaching, against the Catholic faith " might be ari'ested by
the diocesan, tried at his discretion, and, refusing to abjure
or relapsing, delivered to the secular army and burnt for the
terror of others. Though tlit; royal intentions were thus
sufficiently made manifest, it does not appear that anyone in
Ireland suffered for religion during the five years that Mary
sat upon the throne. There can hardly be a doubt, however,
that had her reign extended only a short period beyond
the limits of its actual duration the same bloody scenes that
darkened the history of England would have been re-enacted
on Irish soil. Shortly before her death she issued a com-
mission to the Viceroy at Dublin to proceed with vigour in
the detecti<)n and punishment of Protestants within his
jurisdiction: but before the commission reached the hands
of her Majesty's representative the Queen was no more, and
a Protestant Sover(3ign had taken her i)lace on the throne.
The accession of Klizabeth was an event fraught with con-
Tin: KKFOKMATION. 45
s(M|U(;nc(!S to tlio Rt.'foinmtiou tli;it it would bo ililliciilt to
ovciestiinattj. It put au end to tlio poi-.s(!cutioii.s that liiid
sw«'[»t over England with ruthless severity during the pre-
vious i"ci<;n. It h'Ut such eiieourag(!nient to the friends of tlnj
new learning that through their zealous exertions, evang(;lical
truth s|»e(idily attained to the asct;ndeney over the national
conscience that it r<'tains at this hour. It arrayed the whole
jiovver of England on the side of the Ueforniation at a time
when it pecnliarly neeiled th(; shelter of a strong and friendly
arm. It o[)ened up au asylum to which Protestants, driven by
persecution from ')ther lands, could flee for refuge. Had the
new Sovereign been, like her sister Maty, a blind and bigoted
Ilomanist, in whose bosom an intense fiinaticism had extin-
guished every sentiment of humanity, and in whose purposes
lay imbedded a fixed detei-niination to restore the Pajiacy
to its former supremacy witliin the kingdom, the whole
history of the Reformation, as well as of England itself, woidd
have borne a very ditierent complexion. Protestantism,
with all the great Powers of Eui-o[)e combined for its
extinction, wouhl have been almost certainly crushed
out of existence ; and the English nation, deprived of the
(juickening impulse that the Reformation imparted to all its
most vital interests, would have remained at a long distance
from the greatness that now gives to the British Empire the
foremost place among the nations of the earth.
The accession of Elizabath was eminently favourable to
the interests of the Reformation in Iieland, as well as in
England. Piotestantism was restored as tlie national and
estal)lished religion of the country; the outward symbols of
Fiomanism were abolished; the use of the Connnon Prayer
Book was enforced, and the people oblig<id to attend the
public services of the National Church. Early in 1567, a
creed was also provided for the new Establishment, entitled
^'4 Brief Declaration of Certain Principal Articles of
40 FKKSHYTKKIAN ('IIUUCII IN IIIKLAND.
Ivoluaoii." Tlioso sirticlos wer(j twolvu in nuiiilior, mikI were
the HuiiM! as wor(! adopUul in Kn;^litii(I in tlu; iM-^'iniiing of
this rei'Mi. Thev scit fortli the? Itvuliu;' iloctiiiics of (Jhristi-
unity, recognise the royal suprtMnaey, and protest against tiie
mass as a propitiatory saeriHce. For nearly iialf a centiuy
tliey eontinmjd to he the acknovvledgcHl creed of tlie Trish
Chiircli.
The same fatal error, however, that had hitlicrto marked
tlj(! history of the Refornnition in Ireland, was renewed.
Ijittle was aimed at beyond outward conformity to the estab-
lished ritual. No ade(|ua;,e effort was made to enlist the
intelligence of the j)eople on the ."-ide of the truth. It was
an essential principle of tii(! Reformation that Divine service
should be conducted in the language of the worshippers.
But, in the case of Ireland, this common sense principle was
shamefully neglected. Though the great mass of the people
knew no language but their native Irish, in the desire to
Anglicize the country, it was enacted that Divine service
should be conducted in the English language, and that where
the officiating cleigyman did not understand English the
Latin tongue should be used. For the regular celebration of
Divine worship, even after this fashion, no suitable provision
was made. Several of the sees were allowed to remain
vacant, and multitudes of the parishes shared a similar fate.
Many of the churches were allowed to sink into utter ruin,
and when, aft<;r a long la{)se of years, incumbents were
ap})ointed, were found to be mifit for use. Unhappily,
the incumbents that were appointed .were, in very many
instances, grossly unfit for their sacred functions. The Poet
Spencer, speaking from personal observation, describes them
in these terms : — " Ye may find gross sinning, greedy covet-
ousness, fleshy incontinence, careless sloth, and generally all
disordered life in the common clergyman— they neither read
the Scrij^tuves, nor preach to the people, nor administer the.
TIFK |{i:kokmation. 47
( "oiiimuiiion. JJut. Ij.ipti.siii tln'v do, loi' tlicy clu'isUMi, yet
;ift(!i' the P-)j)isli Icisliioii."
It is |>l(';is;iiit, Nvliilst iiotifiiii; iIm; fcclilciicss and futility
of tlw! titiurts to rv.iiimdi/t^ lr«'ljiiHl, that wimc made duiiiiji(
till! ('urli«M' days of tlir Uefonnalioii, to rciord oiu; or more
notable exc(4)tioiiH.
As the sixteenth century was di-awin;^f to a close, Tiiui'y
('oll(!,s,'(! was (sstablished at Dublin, iiiaiidy for tlu; pur[>ose
of su|»j>lying well-trained pistors to the National Church.
\h early as 156'J a })rojeot had be(Mi set on foot for the
(>r(;ction of such an institution, but it was not till 1593 that
it took practical shapi;. I was built on the site of the old
Monastery of All- Hallows, on a plot of groutnl called
Ifoj^gin (jrreen, and tht; funds necessary for its erection were
raised by public subscription. The foundation stone was
laid on March 13, 1592, and it was noted as a curious
and aus[)icious circumstance that in a climate noted for its
Iiiunidity, not a shower of rain fell by day to n^tard its
erection till the building was com[)leted. On January 9,
1593, it was formally opened for the rec<4>tion of students,
of whom one of the earliest enrolled was James Ussher,
afteiwards Archl)isho[> of Armagh, famous as a theologian
and antiquarian, ami uncle of the more celebrated primate
of the same name. Happily, it was founded on a libei'al
basis. Its doors were open to all classes of the Irish people.
Walter Travers, an eminenc Presbyterian minister, was the
first regular ])rovost, and two of the first fellows, James
FiUlerton and Jjuncs Hamilton, weie of the same creed,
The former was afterwards knightcul and the latter was
sulisequently raised to the peerage undei- the title of Lord
Claneboy, and became the founder of the family of which
the present IVIarquis of UtifFerin and Ava, bett(!r known
us Lord Dufi'erin, is the re])resentative. In 1598, Travers
retired fi'om the office of provost, an4, in 1601, Henry
48 PRKSBYTERIAN C'lIURCir IN IRKFiAND.
Alv(3y, a mail of tlie saiiio roligiou.s piiuciples, was chosen to
rill th(3 vacancy. Tlie (Jistiuctiou botwijon Conformist and
Noncomfornnst, which had boon already carried to so great
an extent in England was, at this })eriod, unknown in
Ireland. Conformity in all respects to the Established ritual
was not pressed upon the Irish Protestant clergy. Ministers
of all the llefoi'med Churches })0ssessed of learning and zeal
were eligible to appointments, and this wise and judicious
arrangement continued in operation till the time of the
infamous Laud, in the ill-starred reign of Charles I., when
absolute and entire conformity was rigorously enforced.
Under the oi>erations of this charitable comprehension, the
Protestant Chui'ch attained to a measure of progress that
otherwise would have been impossible.
It is pleasant, also, to record that the education of the
peo[)le generally was not altogether overlooked. By an Act
of Parliament passed in 1569 scliools were ordered to be
erected in the princii)al town of every diocese, under the
direction of English schoolmasters, of whose salary one-third
was to be })aid by the bishop, and the remainder by his
clergy. Had this measure been faithfully carried out it
would have done much to improve the condition of the
peasii,ntry and to {>romote all the nuiterial and moral interests
of the country ; but unha{)pily, like Irish reforms generally,
it was allowed to .^ink into abeyance.
Shoitly after the passing of this Act an attempt was
made to enlighten the peoj)le and to diffuse the knowledge
of th(! truth among them through the medium of their own
language. Nicholas Walsh, chancellor of St. Patrick's,
Dublin, and John Kearney, treasurer of the same cathedral,
introduced into Dublin Irish types and a printing j)ress,
furnished at the ex[)ense of Queen Elizabeth, and obtained
an order from the Government for printing the Liturgy in
the native tongue, and for aetting apart, in every principal
tHE REFOIIMATIOX. 40
town, ;i cliiirch for condiieUnLj Divine service in tlie [rish
I;»n<j;u;i<,'e. The want of an adequate supply of qualities
teacliers rol)V)ed tliis eminently judicious sclienie of much ot
its efficiency, yet it is said that, so far as it was put into
operation, it was singularly successful in furtherin:^ the
progress of the llefornmtion among th(! natives.
It is not to be sui)j)Osed that the change in thti national
faith in Ireland, introduced and enforced by royal authority,
awoke no public resistsmce. Even in King Henry's time,
when little more was attempted than tin; abolition of th(^
Papal supremacy, the machinations of the Papacy resulted
in open rebellion. As soon as the Pope was made awai'O of
the attemj)t to overthrow his authority in Ireland he
despatched instructions to Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh,
and his clergy, requiring them to [»ut forth the most
strenuous exertions for the maintenance of the Pajjal
jurisdiction. By a Bull, framed in 1535, but not published
till 1538, Pope Paul III. excommunicated the offending
Sovereign, declared him dethroned, dissolved all leagues
between him and other Catholic princes, and consigned him
to eternal damnation. An agent also was sent to Ireland to
stir up the native chiefs against Henry's government. The
Papal emissary, aided by the active zeal of the priesthood,
ever foremost in fomenting rebellion against the English
rule, foinid little difficulty in accomplishing his mission. A
confederacy was formed, under the leadership of O'Neil, the
most ))owerful of the northern chieftains, and a des|)erato
attempt made to restore the Pa}>al su[)remacy and cast off
the hated yoke of Britain. But the attempt, like all similar
attempts before and since, ended in disaster. Lord Leonard
Grey, the Viceroy, with a large body of troops under his com-
mand, met the insurgents at a place called Bellahoe, on th(^
borders of Meath, and gave them a signal overthrow. Shortly
after, encouraged by the addition to their ranks of Murrough
4
•^)0 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
O'Brien, Princo of TJioniond, tliey ronowcd the attempt,
but witli still less success. Awed by such promi)t and
decisive assertions of British power, all the chieftains of any
consideration, as well as the clert^y in all places where
English rule was supreme, acknowledged the royal
supremacy and suljmitted quietly to the ecclesiastical revo-
lution.
This submission, however, which at the time appeared to
b3 cordial and general, was not of long continuance. An
era of insubordination and rebellion commenced soon after
that can hardly be said even yet to have come to a close.
The cause of the change is not far to seek.
In 1540 the Jesuit Society, instituted by Ignatius
Loyola, for the purpose of stemming tlie progress of the
Reformation, received the sanction of the Pope. In the
following year two of the leaders of the new organization —
John Codure and Alphonsus Salmon — were appointed to
visit Ireland. Almost from that fatal hour the western
isle has been the constant scene of the Society's baneful
operations, presenting, in consequence, the melancholy
si)ectacle of a land rent by dissension and strife, overrun
by turbulence and disorder, deluged with anarchy and crime,
sedition and murder, sunk in ignorance and poverty. For a
time the machinations of tlie Jesuit emissaries bore little
fruit. The Irish chiefs had not yet forgotten the lessons
that lecent defeats had imi)re.ssively taught them, and were
in no humour to listen to disloyal counsels. The Jesuits,
however, were not idle. If rebellion were found to be
impracticable in the meantime, other means could be em-
])loyed to promote the object it was their mission to accom-
plish. Moving about stealthily from place to place, they
constantly traversed the country, holding meetings, defend-
ng the peculiarities of Bomanism, misrepresenting the
doctrines of the Reformation and vilifying the character of
THK KKFOUMATION. 51
its most prominent suppojttns, stirring up (liscontcMit
among the peo])le, and inflaming their minds with hatred of
tlie British rule. At length they succeeded in inducing
Shane O'Nell, the most powerful dynast of the North, to
rise in arms against the Government, and for years Ulster
was overrun by the flames of a civil war, which, wlum it
was finally terminated, left a large part of the ])rovince almost
without an inhabitant. In 1567 this daring disturber of
the public peace was killed at Cushendun, in a drunken
carousal, by the Macdonnels, and two years afterwards
the Irish Parliament passed an Act for the attainder of
himself and his associates in rebellion. Thus more than the
one-half of Ulster became vested in the Crown, and the wav
to some extent prepared for the colonization of this province
which took place in the following reign.
But defeat was insufhcient to turn aside the Jesuits from
the prosecution of their aim. Baffled in the attempt to
wrest Ireland from the gi'asp of England, and to restore the
supremacy of the Po})e in the island by the force of arms,
they had recourse to the spiritual artillery of the Vatican,
which, in days of yore, had often been found to be irresistibh^,
and procured from the Pope a decree of excommunication
against Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth became Queen, it was hoped that she
would lend her support to Romanism, and, though Troin the
outset she manifested strong Protestant leanings, the hope
w.is not abandoned. With the view of inducing her to return
to his fold, Poj)e Pius IV., in May 1560, sent her a Icttcu- in
which he addressed her as his '**dearest daughter in Christ,"
and promised her any reasonable length of compliance whicih
lay within the compass of his station, offiM-ing even the cup
to the laity in the observance of the Su[)per, and the us(; of
the English liturgy. But all his blandishnuuits and soothing
arguments were of no avail ; his proposal was unhesitatingly
M
IMIKSRYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
rojeclod. Tlio Qiieon nnnuitied iiifloxihlo. At lengtli, his
successor, Pius V., lost ]);itipiice, and, in Fobiuaiy 1570,
Irtunclied against her, a l)ull of exconinumication. In tliis
blasphemous docunient he aliirms that "He wlio reigns above,
to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, has con-
signed his one holy Catholic Church, out of whicli there is no
salvation, to the sole government of St. Peter, the prince of
the Apostles, and his successor, the bishop of Rome. This
successor he has constituted supreme over all nations and
kingdoms, to root out and pull down, to build and to plant."
" Out of the plenitude of our Apostolic authority," he con-
tinues, "we declare Elizabeth a heretic, and an encourager of
heretics, and that those who adhere to her lie under the cen-
sure of an anathema, and are cut off from the unity of the
body of Christ. We likewise declare Elizsibeth deprived of
the ]>retended right to the throne, and of all dominion,
dignity and privileges whatsoever, and that all the nobility
and subjects of the said realm who have sworn to her in any
manner whatsoever are for ever absolved from any such
oaths, and from all obligation of fidelity and allegiauL-e. . . .
We likewise command all the nobility, subjects, and others,
that they do not presume to obey her orders, commands, or
laws for the future ; and thosT who act otherwise are in-
volved in the same sentence of condemnation."
The effect of such a fulmination of Papal authority upon
an ignorant and excitable population wlio had been long
taught to regard England with bitter hatred, and to cherish
the most ardent devotion to the Papacy, it is easy to antici-
pate. A largo number of the chieftains throughout the
country, undismayed by the remembrance of former defeats,
flew to arms, and the peoj)le in crowds rushed to their
standards. The King of S[)iiin, whose enmity towards
Elizabeth as a favourer of the Keformation had been
intensified by the rejection of an offer of marriage that he
THK RKFOUMATION. r)3
had urgently pressed upon her acceptance after the demise
of Queen Mary, again and again came to their aid with
hirge reinforcements, and for years the island was kept
in the throes of rebellion. When the ardour of the insur-
gents, under the chilling influence of repeated disasters,
showed symptoms of declining, the Pope was on hand with
fresh thunderbolts from the inexhaustible storehouse of his
spiritual armoury to rouse their flagging zeal. Thus, in 1571),
Gregory XIII. issued a Bull addressed '" to all the prelates,
princes, earls, barons, nnd the entire clergy, nobility and
peo})le of the kingdoui of Ireland, calling upon them to
ally to the su[)port of Fitzmaurice, one of the most power-
rul of the chieitains who took an active part in promoting
the rebellion; and for the purpose of provoking them to
prompt and united action, admonishing and exhorting them
" not to he afraid of a ivoman who, having been long since
bound by the chain of our anathema, and yrowing more and
more vile every day, has departed from the Lo7'd and the Lord
from her,'^ and granting to all of them who, " being contrite
and confessing, or having the purpose of confessing," should
in any way aid in the good cause, " a plenary indulgence
and remission of all sins in the same form as is commonly
granted to those who set out for the wars against the Turks
and for the recovery of the Holy Land."
But all was in vain. Neither the thunders of the
Vatican, nor the numbers and valour of the insurgents, nor
the soldiers of Spain availed to overthrow the hated power
of England and restore the reign of the Papacy. In evevy
important encounter in the battle-fleld the English arms
were invariably trium})hant. At length, after a long and
destructive contest, conducted with great barbarity on both
sides, the rebellion was eft'ectually sup}>ressed and peace
re-established. The country — long befoie so desolate — had
now sunk to a condition of appalling wretchedness.
64 PRKSBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
TIjouhjukIs had ])erishe(l in l)attlo ; and so long had the
till /e of the soil l)0(.'n iicgh;ct(!d, and so uns|)aring had
been the destinction of the })roduce of the field, that a
still larger number dicul of famine. Kxtensive tracts of
country in the South, which had been the ch'ef theatre of
the reltellion, wen; turned into a desert, where the slightest
sound of life rarely broke the stillness of tiie scene. So
griiat was tin; destitution that the survivors were content
to " eat the tlead carrions — hai)[)y when they could find
them — yea, and one another soon after, insomuch as the
very carcases they spai'ed not to scrape out of their graves,
and if they found a plot of water cresses or shamrocks, there
they flocked as to a feast." The state of things in the North
was little better. There, too, rebellion issued in its wonted
failure and wretchedness. About twenty years after the
sui>pression of the revolt under Shane O'Neill, as already
recorded, Hugh O'Neill, one of the same family, and the
most powerful among the Irish chieftains of his time, under
the special })atronage and encouragement of the Po{)e — who
lost no o})jtortunity of fomenting rebellion in Ireland —
renewed the attempt to overthrow the Knglish rule and
restore the ascendency of the Papacy. This noted chieftain
had songht to ingratiate himself with the Queeu, and,
by the profession of unbending loyalty, had succeeded in
obtaining from her the restoratiou of the forfeited title of
the Earl of Tyrone, and also of the largo estates claimed by
his family. His i)rofessions of loyalty, however, were
merely a pretence. As soon as a favourable opportunity
occurred he showed himself in his true character, and raised
the standard of rebellion. But, though the Pope came to
his aid with the whole weight of his spiritual authority, and
the King of Spain sent him supplies of troops, arms, and
amumnition, his attempt ended in failure and disaster. The
few succ(}sses that at the outset had encouraged his arms
THE REFOHMATION. 55
were speedily followed by criishincf detViats, so that he was
compelled to sue for mercy. With his overthrow the civil
wars that had raged in the isl; ^ during a large part of the
reign of Elizabetli, and for the c;xistence of which the j)lots
and intrigues of the Jesuits were mainly responsible, may
he said to have come to an end, leaving the island in a largt;
measure depojiulated, and in such a state of devastation and
wretchedness that, in the language of Lord Mountjoy, who
had commanded the English forces during the latter part of
the oft-renewed contest, it was *' nothing but carcases and
ashes."
The memory of Elizabeth has been IomIimI witli uiuch un-
merited opprobium by Romisli writers. The Virgin Queen
lias been charged with relentless persecution of the Irish
(Jatholics during the whole of her reiijn. But the alley;a-
tions on which the charge is made to I'est are, for the most
j)art, the creations of malice and hati'ed. It is certain that
during the forty-five years she sat upon the throne, not
a single individual among them suffered death for his
religious opinions. She even treated them with indulgence,
as long as they were loyal to their allegiance ; but, when
they engaged in secret cons[)iracies and sought to overthrow
her government through the agency of treason and rebellion,
she did not hesitate to treat them with merited S(iverity,
When priests and prelates came into the country as the
emissaries of the Pope, for the express pur[)ose of fomenting
sedition, and, in the execution of their treasonable nussion,
taught the people that the Poi)e's excommunication had
divested Elizabeth of her right to the throne, and exhorted
them to renounce their allegiance, and offered them indul-
gences to induce them to rise in open r(^volt, it is not to be
wondered at that the detection of their guilt was followcul
l»y just retribution. And when these priests and prelates
died, they suffered not because they were Ilomanists, not
56 PKKSIJYTEHIAN CHUUCII IN IKKLANI).
bticjiuse lliev ))iayed to the Virgin Mary, or udorod thti
Saints, or believed in Transubstantiation, but beoaus(! they
engaged in secret conspiiacies to subvert tlie government
and the law of tlie country. A ]»rochiniation, issued by the
Qjieen in October 15131, against the entrance of Jesuits and
scminarv ])ri(\sts into the Kinudoni makes this suthcientlv
evident. " We liave saved our Kingdom," said the Queen,
in this manifesto, *' by tlie ctficacy of the laws enacted against
rebels, and those guilty of high treason, and not against
religiun, as has been falsely advanced by the favoureis of
those base views ; which is the more flagrant (evident) from
criminal suits having been instituted in which none were
condemned or p'.it to death except for tredson, and for their
avowal, that they would aiil and assist the Poi)e and his
armv if sent to invade onr realms. It is a matter also of
notoriety that iione of our subjects Jtace been put to death
for their religion, inasmuch as many })Ossessed of riches, and
professing a contrary belief to ours, are punished neither
in their [)ropeities, their lives, nor their freedom, and
are subject only to pay a certain tine for their refusal to
frequent our churches — which is, on our part, a clear
refutation of the aspersions and calumnies that have been
|»i-0[)agatod in foreign countries by those who have tied
from their own." Elizabeth had good cause to regard with
S'lspicion the whole Koniish priesthood. Everywhere, under
the inspiration and guidance of the Jesuits, they were united
in a standing conspiracy to overthrow Protestantiism and tlie
power of England as tlie head and front of that offending.
The Bartholomew massacre, antl the slaughter of Coligny
and the Huguenots in France, and the oft-recurring Autos-da-
Fd in Spain, showed that there was no crime to which they
were not ])iepared to resort in order to accomplish their
object. The Spanish Armada was an undertaking in which
their fiendish purpose found ex[)ression on a gigantic S(;ale.
TiiK hkfouma: ION. 67
'l'li(! lift! of tli(^ Qiwnni licivself was placed in daily poiil l>y
tlK'ir inacliinatioiiH. In 1571, the King of Spain, with the
full knowledge and approval of the Po|)e, sought to cany
out a scheme tliat had been hatched bv Roberto Ridolfi,
:( Florentine, to seize and murder the Queen as she was
(piitting London for the country, in August or September.
Tovvards the close of the same year, the Duke of Alva sent
two Italian assassins to England to attempt her life by
])oison or otherwise. Eigiitecu months afterwards, two other
assassins, pensioners of Philip of Spain, came to Brussels
to consult with the Dukt; of Alva in regard to Jier murder.
Romish writers delight to vilify this great sovereign,
and to insult her memory ; but as the true facts become
known, her character stands vindicated from all tlieir
gioundless and malicious as})ersions. When Ikm* own ulu,
and, — what was of still greater im[)ortance, — tlu; life of the
nation and the interests of religion w(M'e placed in imminent
iieril, she would ha\e becni iri'ossh' ne^ilent other most solenui
ohiigations if she had not had recourse to such drastic
mea.sures as the exigmcies of the hour imperatively
di'Uianded.
58 IMIKSHYTKRIAN CHUKCIi IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER IV.
TllK I'LSTEK PLANTATION, AND THE RISE OF THE PRESliY-
TEKIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Awression of .lames VI. of ScotlaiKl to tho tlirone of Eni;laji<l -Hopes of the Roman-
ists disappointed —('oiispiracy and Reliellion — A larjye portion of Ulster
forfeited to the Crown — New C^oloni/.ation sciienie- llit^hly succcH8ful--i)ar-
tieiiUirly in Antrim and Down A lilessiny even to the Native Irisli Enj^lish
Puritans and Seotdi Presljylerians in increasing: niuiihers settle in Ulster
Coiij^rej;:'!! ions formed -Ministers appointed — 'I'he fathers and founders of the
Irish Presi)yterian Ciiurch— Results of their lahours.
H 1'^ sii|)[)rf.sfsi()ii of tlio 1-obellioii muler Hugh O'Neill,
and his bubinission to tho Royal authority were fol-
lowed by a few years of peace in Ulster. There
was no abatement, howe\or, in the hatred with
which the Eni^lish rule was generally regarded, nor in the
plots and intrigu(!s ol the Jesuits to effect the restoration of
1 Iceland to the Papal supremacy. It was certain that as
soon as a favourable opportunity would present itself,
tho attem})t to cast oil' the British yoke, and to reestab-
lish the Papacy would be renewed. In the estimation
of many, the accession of James VI. of Scotland to the
English throne was an tiuspicious occurrence. It was con-
fidently expected that the son of Mary Stuart, sprung by
collateral descent from Malcolm Canmore, and consequently
related to the blood royal of Ireland, would regard the
Romish interest with favour. But, when it was found that
this expectation was not to be realized, the old game of
treason and rebellion was resumed. The two great Northern
dynasts, O'Donnel, Earl of Tyrconnel, and O'Neill, Earl of
Tyrone, united in a secret consi)iracy to overthrow the
Government^ but before their plans were ripe for execution,
THE ki:koi<mation. 50
tliey woro lod to siispoct that their treasonahU; (Icsiijns liad
hecii (lisc'ovcnul. Knowing that thoy were uiiahh! tocouteuil
successfully witli the power of Eughiud, and that their j^uilt
was too great and had beiMi too often incurred, to warrant
tlie slightest hope of a rep(.'tition of royal clemency, they
sought safety in flight, and left their native siiores, never to
retui-n. Soon after thtiir tlight, another Northern dynast
|)erished in a boot](!Ss rebcillion, and thus estates in the six
Counties of Deny, Donegal, Tyrone, Fermanagh, ('avan, and
Armagh, to the extent of a half a million ot acres, w re
forfeited to the Crown.
These forfeitures prei)ared the way for carrying out a
scheme that had been attempted on several former occasions,
but thiit was destined only now to be put into successful
execution. James wisely re.solved to settle Ulster with
colonists from England and Scotland, whose energy and
enterprise were certain to im[)rove the condition of the
country, and on whose loyalty and devotion the Ooveinment
could rely in times of danger. Every precaution was taken
to prevent the failure that htid attcmdetl former experinumts
of a like kind, and to ensure success. The [)lan of settlement
was drawn up by the celebrated Lord Bacon, and its execu-
tion entrusted to Lord-Deputy Chichest(U-, founder of tin;
pre.sent Donegal family, and Sir John Davies, the Attorney-
General. The grants of Land to the new settlers were not
to exceed respectively a thousand, fifteen hundred, and two
thousand acres. In these several grants, a proportion of
sixty, ninety, and one hundred and twenty acres was
allocated for the support of the clergy in addition to the
tithes. Provision was also made for the endowment of free
schools in the principal towns. The settlers were to be of
three classes ; first, English and Scotch, who were to plant
with tenants from their own countries ; secondly, servitors
ij.1 Jreland, that is persons who had served the King in any
GO I'KESHYTEKiAN (.'llUUOil IN IKKLANl).
civil or liulitury capacity, jind wlio won^ not lostrictod in tin;
choice of tenants ; and, thirdly, the native Irish, who were
all to be freeholders, and who were to plunt with those ol
their own nation and religion. The British settlers were
required to j>ay to the Crown an annual rent of six and
<;ight|)ence, the servitors, of ten shiiiiugs, and tiie Irish, of
thirteen and fourpence, for every six acres. In addition,
'* the occupiers of the largest j)ro})ortion were hound within
four years to build a castle and bawn — the bawn was a
walled enclosure, usually with towers at the ;ingles — and to
plant on their estates forty-eight able men, eightei-u years
old or upward, of English or Scotch descent. Those of the
second class were obliged to build, within two years, a strong
stone or brick house and bawn, and those of the third a
bawn, while both were bound to plant a proportionate
number of British families on their ])ossessions, and to have
their houses furnished with a sufficiency of arms."
The new plantation was not confined to the forfeited
counties. It extended more or less to the whole province,
and in ])oint of fact found its speediest and most successful
accomplishment in the i)resent Counties of Down and
Antrim.
Con O'Neill, one of the great family of the O'Neills of
Ulster, owned extensive tracts of land in these counties,
which, as the penalty of his disaffection and attempts at
rebellion became escheated to the Crown. Sir Arthur
Chichester, Sir John Clotworthy, Mr. Conway, and other
English gentlemen had already obtained large grants of lands
in Antrim; and now, Hugh Montgomery, of Broadstone, in
Scotland, who subsequently became Lord Montgomery of the
Ards, and James Hamilton, another native of Scotland,
whose name has been already mentioned in connection with
the establishment of Trinity College, Dublin, managed to se-
cure a large portion of the newly-forfeited estates in Down,
TnE REFonMATio^r. ai
It vviiH obviously tli<i i"t«'r<\st of llu^ lunv proprit^tors Lo
settle tlicir liiiids as speedily as ])ossil>lo with able and indus-
trious tenants, and to otler such terms of tenancy as should
secuj'(; such a result. Accordingly, Knglish Puritans, and,
in still larger numbers, Hcot(;h Presbyterians began to pour
into Ulster, carrying the Protestant religion with them,
pliinting the gertns of law and civilization, and laying the
foundation of the prosperity that, ever since, has distin-
guished this northei'n ])rovince from the rest of Ireland. So
rapid was the process of settlement that, as early as 1015 —
just five years after its commencement — no less than 107
castles with bawns, 19 castles without bawns, 42 bawns
without castles or houses, and 1897 dwelling houses of stone
or timber Juid been erected. Only a few years further on
and the whole country assumed a new and improved aspect.
Tiie wretched hovels that had previously sheltered a rud.^
and lawless ])easantry wei-e supplanted by substantial and
comfortable dwelling houses, tenanted by a highly industri-
ous and orderly population ; lands that had long been little
better than a barren waste, yielding a miserable subsistence
to a thriftless and indolent race, were transformed, as if by
magic, into well-tilled farms that rewa"ded the intelligent
an<l laborious occupants with abundant harvests ; meadow
stretches where the lark had seldom found a rival to chal-
lenge the empire of its song were made vocal with the
bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle that in
ample Hocks and herds fattened upon their rich pastures ;
old and almost deserted cities were replenished with inhabi-
tants ; new towns si)i'ang into existence, and, in every dir-
ection scenes of busy industry met the jye. The long reign
of disorder and desolation, of rags and wretchedness, of
im])rovidence and want, was over. The whole province
thrilled with the pulsations of a new life, and, like a giant
62 PIlESllYTKRIAN CHUUCH IN IRKLAVD.
i-efn.'sluMl l>y a long Hl(^ep, awokt; to niii a race of iinwonteil
prosperity and pi'ogresss.
In Antiini pnd Down, tlie )»rocoss of settlement was
peculiarly rai)i(l. Tn the forniei-, Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir
Hugh Clotworthy, Mr. Conway, and other [)ro})rietors were
diligent in their efforts to improve their estates, and it was
not long till they had the satisfaction of seeing their lands
occupied by a large band of able and successful colonists, and
the foundations laid of such towns as Antrim, Ballymena,
Belfast, Carrickfergus, and Lisburn. In Down, the Lords
Montgomery aiul Hamilton were, if possible, still more
active and successful in their endeavours to effect the settle-
ment oi their newly-acquired possessions, " Having a good
bargain themselves," says a contemporary writei", " they
make some of their fiiends sharers as free- holders under
them. Thus came several farmers under Mr. Montgomery,
gentlemen from Scotland, of the names of the Shaws, Calder-
woods, I>oyds, of the Keiths from the North. And some
foundations arc; laid for towns and incorporations, as New-
ton, Donaghadec, Comber, Old and New (Jrey Abbey. Many
Haniiltons also followed Sir James, especially his own
brethren, all of them worthy men ; and other farmers, as the
Maxwells, Rosses, Barclays, Moores, Bayleys, and others,
whose posterity holds good to this day. He also founded
towns and incorporations, viz. Baugor, Holywood, and
Killil(>agh, where he built a castle, and Ballywalter, Those
foundations being laid, the Scots came hither apace, and be-
came tenants willingly, and subtenants to their countrymen
(whose manner and way they knew), so that in a short time
the country Ix^gan again to be inhabited."
The towns of (yoleraino and Londonderry had been built
at a yet cai'lier period in the history of the Plantation by
the Corporation of London, which had attained possession of
a large part of what had been called the County of Coleiaine,
THE IlEFOKMATION. G3
but which WHS now iuuiuhI, at'tcr its now proprietors, the
County of Londoiulorry.
The new settlement provt^d a bh^.ssing even to the native
Irish tliemselves. Under the old Brehon law, whicli ruled Ire-
land from the fifth to the seventeenth century, the condition of
the great mass of the people was littlci better than that of
slaves. They were com})letely at the mercy of the chiefs of
their septs, who might remove them at any moment from
one district to another, or expel them from tlu; territory
altogether. The cultivators of the soil were mere tenants at
will, who had no security that the lands tlusy tilled one year
would be theirs the next. They were thus deprived of all
the incentives to industry, and exposed to the evils of indol-
ence ; for what inducement could they have to attemjjt any
improvement either in their dwellings or in their modes of
husbandry, when they knew not how soon they might lose
their tenements. They were also branded with social infer-
iority. They were denied the i)rofession of arms. They could
neither act as jurors, nor appear as witnesses, nor inherit
property. They were,moreover,subjectcd to several excessive
extortions at the hands of their Chieftains, and kept in
poverty by frequeni robberies. The idle kernes and gallow-
glasses — vagabond "gentlemen" who lived by the sword, and
who were the hangers-on of the great families — might at any
time quarter themselves ni)on them, and devour theii* sub-
stance. But, under the new r^yinie, all this was aJLervd.
Their civil rights were recognised and protected. The
badge tiiat stamped them as an inferior race was removed.
The lands they cultivated were held by a tenure with which
none could interfere ; oppressive exactions were abolished ;
robberies of their property were repressed with a lirui hand,
and idle " gentlemen " could no longer force themselves ujton
their hosj)itality. Besides, mingling with the new setth^rs,
they necessarily caught son»f»^hing of their spirit, and, in'ofit-
64 fKESnYTFTRIAN CIIiyRrTt TN rRKLANrJf.
iiig hy llicir «;xann)lc, rose; to a condition ot" social oxistenco
that offered a strong contrast to the a))ject degradation and
squalid misery of other days. Many of them also passed
over into the ranks of Protestantism, and l)ecame orderly and
peaceable in their habits, and loyal subjects of the British
Crown.
It was not all plain sailing with the new settlers. The
"marshiness and fogginess " of the island, which, long and
internecine wars had reduced to the condition of a wilder-
ness, generated a disease that proved fatal to many of them ;
and the " woolfe and the wo( dkerne " imposed the necessity
of constant watchfulness for the safety of their lives and
property. Yet, in spite of all the dfficulties and dangers
that attended the new enterprise, it llourished amazingly.
The stream of immigration never ceased to flow, and, though
checked at times by the unsettled state of the countr}' and
still more by the violent efforts of the bishops of the
Establishment to compel unifot-mity of woi-ship, it con-
tinued to roll on in increasing volume till the close of the
century. In 1580, the total population of the island
was probably half a million, with hardly a protestant
among them. In IGll, the poi)uiation had increased to a
million and a half, including 200,000 protestants, chiefly in
Ulster, and very largely Scotch. Between 1G90 aiul 1G9(S,
no less than 80,000 Scots })assed into Ulster. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find it stated by a writer of the last
century that this province, particularly in the eastern part
of it, including the two great counties of Down and Antrim,
which at present com[)rise about one seventh of the population
and one sixth of the valuation of the rateable piopiuty of
the whole island, became another S('otland in language, and
manners, and religion.
The history of the Presbyterian Church in I:(iland dates
fi'oni the Ulster plantation, of which a brief account has now
Till': RKFOKMATION. Of)
been ui\ en. As «mi1v as IGl(J, a lari^cj muiilx'ir of Preshy-
tcriiius, tor tlio most part, from Scotland, liacl settled in tlie
jn'ovince ; and as tlie new settlers nndtiplied congregations
were organizcul, and pnblic worship) estahlislied according to
the forms of the Preshyterian Chnrch. Provid(;ntially, these
congregations had liardly well takcMi sha[>e till they were
su|>i)lied with al>I<^ and devot(Ml ])astors, with very few ox-
tu;j»tions from Scollatul, who w(^re driven hy pcnsecution
in tlunr own land to se(;k I'efngo in the n(!W settlement
in Ulster.
On the d(,'ath of Elizabeth in IC03, th(! direct snccession
in th(5 Tudor line ceased, and J;imes VI, of Scotland, who
was tlui great-gran<lson of IMargaret, eddest daughter o!'
Henry VII. of England, obtained by inh(M'itance the English
Crown, thus uniting in his own person th(! Sv)ver<n ;;nty of
both countries. James was brought up in the national
church, which, it is well known, assumed at the Ilefor-
mation the marked Presbyterian type that it retains at
this hour. In his youth, he had for tutor the cele-
brated Ueoi'ge Buchanan, a Presbyt(!rian ; when he was
married, the nuptial ceremony was p(!rform(!d by his own
chajdain- — David Lyndsay, the only Scotch Presbyterian
minister who evi r united a royal pair; when he bi'ought his
young bride home from Denmark, and wished to have her
solemnly crowned, he chose Robert Bruce, one of the min-
isters of Edinburgh to place th(^ crown upon her brow : on
the same occasion, "Melvillle, assuming the Laureate, read his
noble ))oem, the Ste[)haniskiou." These things would secMu
to indicate that he had strong Presbyterian leanings,
and if we are to acce])t an address that he delivertul
about the same time (l.VJO) to the General Assenddy
as the certain exj)onent of his sentiments, we should
certainly come to the conclusion that his attachment to
the religion of his Kingdom was warm and genuine. In
6
66 rilKSlJYTKniAN C'llUlU l[ IN IHKLAND.
that 51(1(1 1't'ss " he fell forth pniisinji; Cod thnt Ih^ was horn
in such u time as th(i time of the li^ht of th<' gospel — to such
a place as to he king in such a Kiik, the sincorest Kirk in
the world." " Tlie Kirk of Geneva," he continued " kee})eth
Pasche and Yule ; uliat hav(! tliey for th(;m ] tliey have no
institution. As for our ntnghhor Kirk in Kngland, it is an
evil said mass in Kuglisli, wanting nothing hut the liftings
(the elevations of tlie host). I charge you, my good people,
ministers, doctoi's, eldeiss, nohles, gentlemen, and harons, to
stand to your ]»\U'it3% and to exhort the j)eoi)le to do ihe
same ; and T, forsooth, so long as I l»rook my life and crown,
shall maintain the same against all deadly." Perhaps the
King was sinceri; when he uttered these words, hut it is
certain they were far from conveying his real sentiments.
He had at an early period in his life contracted a ))artiality
for the Episcopal polity as favourable to those exaggerated
ideas of ho-editiirv and indefeasible i)reroLjative that ulti-
niately drove his family from the throne, and a corres})onding
dislike to Presbyteiy as essentially domoci-atic, and at variance
with his kingly assumptions. His dislike to Pr(\sbytery found
vent as early as 1584. In that year the parliament, which
was only too ready to comply with tlu^ royal wishes, passed
se. era! acts that were subversive of thc^ rights hitherto
enjoyed by the church. By one, the King was declared to
be supreme in all causes, and over all ))ersons, and to decline
his judgment was pronounced to be treason. By another,
all convocations, except those s]>ecially licensed by the King,
were declared to be indawful. By a third, the chief juris-
diction of the church was lodged in the hands of the Ejascopal
body. Thes(^ enactments awoke a feeling of resentment
throughout the country, and an agitation for their abrogation
was set on foot which eight years afterwards reached a success-
ful issue. Among the clergy there were several who stood
boldly forward, on the occasion, in the dc'fenco of the church,
TIIK UKTOKMATfON. G7
iiiul ill tlio in;iint(!n;uioe of lior rii^lits. Among those, Aiulrcw
Molvillo, wlioso sorvicoH to tlio Ciiiisc of Presbytcrianisin in
Scothiml are only secondary to those of Knox, was the most
conspicuous. With the fearless courage of one of the old
l)ro})hets in dealing with the Kings of Israel, this intrepid
ecclesiastic did not hesitate to remind the royal despot that
there were " two kinijs and two kini^douis in Scotland.
Tliere is Christ Jesus, the King, and His kingdom tlie Kirk,
wliose subject King James VI. is, and of whose kingdom,
not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member And
they whom Christ has called and commanded to watch over
his church, and govern liis s})iritual kingdom, have sutlicient
]»ower of Him and authority so to do, ])oth together and
severally, which no christian king should control or dis-
charge, but fortify and assist." Though the King, at the
time those unwelcome words fell u[)on his ears, af-
fected to look pleased, he was yet more than ever resolved
on getting rid of Presbytery, of which, on one occa-
sion, he irreverently declared that '' it agreeth as well
with monarchy as God and the devil," and to establish
prelacy in its stead as a system more in harmony with the
unwarranted conceptions he had foruied of his royal au-
thority. He was wont to say, "no Bisho[>, no King."
Accordingly, when he succeeded to tlu; English Crown, and
thereby acquired an immense accession to his i)Owor, he
promptly took measures to give effect to his resolution. Tiie
church was deprived of the right to hold General Assemblies,
except at the royal discretion. Andrew Melville, whoso
fearless assertion of her rights and priviliges he had not
forgotten, was thrown into prison on a frivolous [)r(;text,
where he languished for three years, when he was allowed
to accept an invitation to become Professor of Divinity at
Sedan, where he spent the remainder of his days ; the well-
known five articles of Perth, intended to bring the church
68 i'ia:snYTL:iUAN ciiuiicii in iui;;lani>.
of Scotlund into cm tiro conformity with tlu^cliurcii of Kn^'l.md
were imposed ;it tlu; royal dictation, and tlio clo'^y who
refused compliance; suhjcctod to severe [)ersecution.
It was during the time tliat these events wiu-e transpiring
in Scotland that tlie Plantation of UlsttM- was iroinij: on,
and tliere can be no doubt that the success that attencUsd the
enterprise was, in a nujasure, due to Uw'w (jxist(nice. The
agreeable prospect not only of a wry decidc^d im[)rovement
in their wordly condition, but yet more, of a happy release!
from tlic persecution that was rampant in tluur own land,
very naturally induced multitudes of Scotchmen to pass over
into Ulster, tin; shores of which lay to many of them, at
hiast, almost within sight, and where, as the new settlement
grew and })rospered, they were sure to find another Scotland
to welcome their arrival. Happily, at this particular period,
the Irish Established Church, though nominally Episcoj)al,
was distinguished, as already indicated, by the spirit of an
eminently wise and comprehensive tolei'ance. James Ussher,
its primate, had strong Presbyterian leanings. In early
youth he had been taught by a Presbyteiian tutor, and in
later years he had studied at a college pervaded largely by
the leaven of Presbyterianism. The position of this eminent
divine in relation to religion may be learned from the creed
that he ])repared for the use of the Irish Church, which
was ado])ted as the creed of the Establishment by a convo-
cation of the Archbishops and Bishops and the rest of the
clergy of Ireland held at Dublin in 1G15. This famous
fornmlary, after which, some thirty years later, the yet more
famous Westminster Confession of Faith was modelled,
consists of one hundied and four articles, dividtsd into nine-
teen sections, and is thoroughly evangelical. It sets forth
with great distinctness those views of the divine decrees so
lucidly propounded by the Great Reformer of Geneva. It
teaches that the Scriptures are able to instruct sufliciently
riiK UEFoiniATios. 69
in all |K)iiits of (loctrino aii<] <luty, and tliat. \sv an; justiiied
l»y failli witlioul. on.' own woi'ks or merits. Ft makes no
moution of tlio tlir(!0 orders of l)ishoi)S, priests, and deacons ;
and it iijiiores tlie necessity for episcopal ordination. It
declarers tliat tlio liord's day is wliolly to V>e <ledicated to tlie
s(n-vice of God. and tliat tlie bishop of Rome; is " that man
of sin foretoM in the Holy Scripture, whom tlie Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and aholisli with tlio
hrightness of his coming " Tlie a(lo[)tion of this lil)eral and
evangelical creed by the Irish National Church opened the
door for the reception of PresbytiM'ian ministers within the
palo of the establishment, so that any such, with a perfectly
good conscience, could minister at its altars and share in its
dignities. Accordingly, when ministers of the Church of
Scotland sought refuge from j)ersecution in their native
land among their fellow countrymen in Ulster, they were
readily received into the bosom of the National Church, and
alloyed to conduct divine service aft(n- their own Scriptural
fashion within their several parishes.
Among the faithful and devoted ministers who about this
time settled in Ulster, a few deserve special notice as men of
eminent zeal and abundant labours, and as the founders of the
Pi'es])yterian Church in Ireland. Of these, the first in point
of time is Edward JBrice, M.A. ]\Ir. Brice had for many years
been minister in Drymen, in Stirlingshire; but being obliged
to leave the kingdom in consecpience of his refusal to
acknowledge Si>otis\vood, Archbishop of Glasgow, permanent
inodei-ator of the Synod of Clydesdale — the expedient then
adopted for foisting jji'elacy upon the Scottish Church — he
removed to Ulster in KUo, and settled in Broadisland or
Ballycarry in Antrim, in the inmiediate neighbourhood of
Wm. Edmonston, a former and intimate friend, who, four
years before, had scuttled in the same locality. Six years
afterwards, he was promoted by his countryman, Bishop
70 PHRSIiVrKUrAN ciiitikmi [N iurland.
Fjclilin to 1)0 proboiuliiry of Kilroot, l)ut ho contimiod to labour
still in Iiis fonnor cliai-i,'(! wliicli was i)art of tin; proboiid.
Thou<,'li, ill Ids public ministrations, lie coiitiiu!(l liiiiisclf
exclusivcilv to tlio PrcsbvtfHiau iiiodci of worship, ho con-
tiiinod till his dcMth, ui)wards of twenty years aftin'wards, to
])reach in the ]):irish churcli, and to enjoy the tithes of the
benefice. "In all his })reaching ho insisted most on tlie life
of Christ in the heart, and on the light of his word and
spirit in the mind."
Mr. I[u])])ai'd, a Puritan minister from England, is the
next to claim ournodco. He; was e})iscopally ordained, but,
having renounced j)r(!lacy, he was s(^ttled as minister of a
nonconform inir congroijatio!! at Soiithworth, ijindon. King
James, after his accession to the English Crown, had declared
that he would either make the Puritans conform, or he
would harry them out of the kini;doiii. Mr. Hul)bard was
one of those: whose principles were too d(;ep-rooted to be
easily abandoiKvl. lie was consequently " harried out of
the kingdom," and strange; to say, his congregation resolved
to accomp.my him in m, body. On the invitation of Sir
Arthur Chichester, who had been a fellow student with
him at Cambrid<i:e under the celebrated Cartwright,
both he and his people si^ttled at Carrickfergus, in 1G21.
He was not, however, permitted to labour long in Ireland.
He died jibout two years after his arrival, and his people,
deprived of their much loved pastor, returned 1o l^]ngland.
Blair speaks of him ns " an able, gracious man," and the
fact that his peo})lo W(;re ready to share with him in his
exile rather than lose his ministrations furnishes a yet
more <lecisive testimony to his worth. Mr. Hubbard was
succeeded in Carrickfergus by James Glendinning, A. M.,
a native of Scotland, who had bo(;n educated at St. Leonards
College, St. Andrews. J^)esid(;s Cari*ickf(;rgus, Mr. Glen-
dinning also took charge of the adjoining parish of Carninoney,
TllK 111:1. )I5MAII0N. 71
a ])liu'ality that wo, on tliis sido tlu» Atlantic, can oasily
undcMStaiid, and tliat wan fully justifuid i»y tli(; (existing
doficionoy in the supply of niinistcMU
Tsvo y(vir.s previous to Mr. IIul>l)ard's sottlcniont at
Carrickfori^nis, anotluM- Kni^disliman, .lolin llid<jj<N A.M., also
a victim of tlic jxM-sccution of the tiinos, on the presen-
tation of Sir Arthur (?hi<.'h(>Hter, \vasadinitte<l to the pastorate
of tlie coni^reirjition of Antiinu IJlaii- styles him " the
judicious and gi'acious mitiister of Antrim," and Livingstone
says of him that ''he used not to have many points in his
sermon, but Ik; so eida]-g(Ml those he had, that it was scarcely
possible for any liearer to foi-get his pii^aching. He was a
great nrger of charitable works, and a v(My InunbU; man."
Whilst congregations in Antrim were being thus supplied
witli able and zealous pastors, Down, with probal)ly a still
1 irger Presliyterian poimlation, was not left altogether un-
occupied. Robert Cunningham, A.M., from Scotland, heads
the list of th(; long ariay of Pr(\sbyterian ministers who have
lived and labourtMl in that line county, often ai»pro[)riately
described in these days as " the Yorkshire of Ireland."
Ml'. Cunninghiim had l)een chaplniii to the l<]arl of 13ac-
cleugh's regiment in Holland, ai\d when the troops returned
to Scotland, he removed to Ireland, and was admitted to the
charge of Holywood and Craigavad by Bisli0[) Echlin, on
the 9th of November, IG15. "To my discerning eye," says
Livingstone, " Ik; was the one man who most resembled the
meekness of Jesus Christ, in all his carriage, that ever I
saw; and was so far rcncrenced of all, even by the wicked,
that he was oft troubled with that Scripture, " Woe to you
when all men speak well of you."
Eight years after Mr. Cunningham's settlement at Holy-
wood, Ixolxn't Blair was settled in the neighbouring parish
of liangoi-. Mr. Llair was by far rhe ablest and most dis-
tinguished of the Presbyterian ministers who as yet had
72 I'unsr.Yi'KinAX cFiriicii i.\ iukland.
srjtth'd ill (MstiM'. II«; 1i;m1 Wccii ;i r('i((Mit or |»r(>r<'ssnr in llic
(Jollei,^' of (Jlasijow, Imt liad 1)('<mi oldi-jjcd ic i-csii^ii liis
situation because^ of his opjiosilion to piuOacy. On the invi-
tation of l^ord Olanoho}', he removed to [i-oland, and afttsr
pivaoljini,' tlii'('(^ Sal)l)atlis to tho ('onj,'i'Oi,'ation of P>;ingor, lie
rocoivod a unanimous invitation to boconio tljoir ])astoi\
[lis very dccidod oj)])Osition to o)»iscoj>aoy and tlio use
of tlio liturgy, it was fearod, would j)rovn obstacles to
his settloniont, but tlio difUeulty was lia]»i)ily got over by an
oxpodiont snggosttnl by the bishop of tho diocoso in whicJi
the claims of o])iscopacy and ])i'Osbyt(M'y vvoi'o alike r(>cog-
nised. "Whatever you account of episcopacy" sai<l the
bisho}), in reply to Blair's scruples, " yet I know you account
a presbytery to have divine wari-ant ; will you not receive
ordination from Mr. Cunningham and the adjacent brethren,
and let me come in amon!]j vou in no other relation than a
jirosbyter." " This," says Blair, in his narrative of the
occurrence, " I could not refuse, and so the matter was
performed."
Blair was one of the most eminent ministers at tliis time
in Ireland. He was an accomplished scholar, an acute and
J)0^^erful reasoner, and a llucnit speaker, — all his great
gifts and acquirements were combined with the most ardent
piety. It is recorded of him that he often s])ent whole
nights in prayer. During the administration of Wentworth,
better known as the Earl of Stratford, he suffered much per-
secution on account of his unyielding adherence to the Pres-
byterian cause, and was at length coinpcdled to leave Bangor,
and return to Scotland. Here he became colleague to Mr.
William Annan, at Ayr, and was afterwards removed to St.
Andrews. The celebrat(Ml Dr. Hugh Blair, of Kdinburgh,
author of the well-known " Lectures on Khetoric," was his
great grand-son.
Mr. Blair, shortly after his settlement at Bangor, was the
TlIK, KKrOlSMATlON*. 73
Tuojins of iiidiKMii^' J.-uiM's I liuiiilloii. ncplicw of Lord ('lane
boy, to <lovot(5 liiinsclf to tin; service! of i\ir, c\\\i\vM. Mr.
TTaniilt(»ii li.-id Ikjoii odiicatod foi- tlio iniiiistiy in Scotland,
l)iit had liitliorto iifivoa Iiirnsolf to socular pursuits. Fu 102;"),
liavin*:; yielded to Mr. Blair's lu'geiit pursnasion, he was
inducted into the oonu;r(;gatiou of liallywaltor, where he
lahoured with ,i,'reat diligence and kuccoss foi* many yejirs.
These s(n'eii hretluM-n are usually regarded as the fatliers
jind founders of th(^ prescnit Pi*esl>ytei'ian Church in Ireland ;
hut in this honourable distinction, Josias Wcdsh, Andrew
Stewart, (Jeorge ])unbar, and John riivingston. have un-
(juestion.'ibly a right to share. Welsh was a son of the
ceh^brated John Welsh of Ayr, who was )uarried to Elizabeth,
third daughter of Jolm Knox, the great Kefornior. Ho
arrived in Ireland about the year 1020, and was settled,
first at Oldstone, and afterwai'ds, at Tenipk^patrick, County
jVntrini, where "he had many seals to his ministry." His
preaching was of a peculiarly awakening and rousing cliarac-
tei', and from this circumstance, he was known among the
country people as "the cock of the cons-cience." Andrew
Stewart was settled at Donegore, County Antiini, in l(i27.
liivingston describes him ;is "a man very sti'aight in the
cause of God," and styles hint, " a learned genth'inan, and
fervent in s))irit, and a very successful minister of the word
of Cod." Dunbar was for a length of time minister of Ayr,
and was twice ejected in Scotland by the High Commission
Court for his inflexible adherence to the Presbyterian cause.
" When the messenger of the Court came to his house the
second time, a young daughter of his, turning, said, ' And
is Pharoah's heart hardened still?' while all that Mr. George
said was to his wifc^, to ])j'ovide the creels again. For, the
former time, the children being yoiui<jf, they behoved to carry
them away in creels upon horseback." He was detained a
[trisoner at Blackne.ss for a long time, but being at length
74 rUKSI'.VTKUlAX CltrKICII IN ll!Kf,ANI>.
i-«'l('iis('(l, li«' was l):iiiisli(Ml l»y order oC l\n) Privy (Joimcil,
and soon aftci- icuiovcmI to JrnlaTid. He laUoiii'cd snc'(;ess-
ivoly iit Oanickformis and !*»allyniona, and ulliniat(Oy
settled at Ijarric!, wIkmh; hi; |)1'ov(m1 a most diliu^ent jninistcu*.
Livinifston had l>oen assistant in tln^ parish of Tor)»ioh(»n,
Scothmd, hut, on account of liis oj>))osition to pivdacy, Jio
was siloncod by Spotiswood, An'lil)ishop of St. yVn(h-evv's in
1627. On the invitation of Lord Clanehoy, lie removed to
Ireland in 1030, and was settled as pastoi" of the congrei^ation
of Killinchy. His ordination was conducted in the same
way as that of Blair as alrea<ly recorded. Thouj^ii his
niinistiy in Killinchy was of hut short continuance, it was
eminently successfid, and that fine Pi'esbyterian parish beais
still the impress of his faithful labours. Under the adminis-
tration of Wentworth he suffered much persecution, and was
utlimately oblig(»d to leave Ireland and return to Scotland,
where in 1638, he was admitted niinisttn- of Stranraer, from
which charge he was, ten years afterwards, translated to
Ancruni in Teviotdale. Durinjif his ministi-v in Stranraer,
great numbers from Ireland, largely of his former parishioners
in Killinchy- — on one occasion to the numlxu- of live hundred
— went over at the stated celebration of the communion to
receive that ordinance from his hands. After the fall of
Strafford, the Killinchy i)eo})le made several efforts to regain
his services; but the pastoral relation between him and them
was never renewed. Towards the close of his life he was one
of the Commissioners sent from Scotland to confer with
Charles II. regarding his return from exile, and the o{)inion
that he then foi'uied of the young King was one that
was bitterly verified in the experience of the Scottish
people during " the killing time," when the C^ovenanters
stood by their cause with stubborn bravery through all those
years whose echo rings through Scotland to this hour.
After the restoration, he was called before the authorities,
TIIF UKFOIIMATION. TT)
and, rofiisiiig to take the oiitli ot" all(;ijian(;(! pldli^ini^ liim to
ackiiowlodij*! tlic Kiiii,' to Id's snprcnK? ()v«!r all jxiiHons, ami
in all causes, civil and cci-lcsiastical, lie was hanislied from
tlui kingdom. In Aj)ril, IGG3, lie went to Rottcniani, an<l,
in Occombor of thn same yea)', was joined by Jiis wile. The
last yeai-s of liis life were spent in private stndi(!s and in
peace. He died at Rotterdam on the 9th of May, 1072. Two
others, John McClelland and Jolin Sempk; are entitled, in this
connection, to a passing notice. Though they were never set-
tled in coimregations in Ireland. tb(^v bore an lionoured share
in laying the foundations of th(; Irish Presbyterian (liurch.
]\IcClelland was a schoolmaster at Newton-Ards, County
Down, whei'e he })repared several promising young men for
entering (Jollege. As he was a man of scholarship, w(dl in-
structed in the Scriptures, and of undoubted l)iety, he was
often employed by neighbouring ministers to j)reach in their
pulpits. John 8emple was a man of a similar stami>.
Though not possessed of the scholarsliip of McClelland, lie
had greater and more popular gifts of utterance. He
laboured extensively in evangelistic work in County Down,
and '' was a happy instrument in converting many souls to
God."
These early fathers of the Irish Presbyterian Church were
worthy to till the position that, in the providence of God,
and under the guidance of the Great Head of the Church,
was assigned them. They were all men of talent and scholar-
ship, being, with hardly an excep.tion, graduates of oik; or
another of tlie universities of the dav, and some of them
Pi-ofessors. Most of them were gentlemen by birth, and
some of them were scions of noble house.-i. Edward Biice
was a brother to th(^ Laird of Airtli ; Robert Blair and
others were by birth of a like social standing. Jam(\s
Hamilton, as previously stated, was a nephew of Lord
Claneboy ; Livingston was a great grand-son of Alexander,
<G PUKSnVTKlUAN OHlTIU'lI IN lUKLANl). '
(il'l/li L')i(l Livingston, iiml Jusi;i,s VV^(jl,sli held iIk; s;uno
v<'l;(tiunslii|) to Lord ( )(;liilti'(!o. VVIiiit is liottcii', ilioy wore
rill MKiii of triH! \n('M' and dec^p-soaUMJ j)iin(n|)l(', tlioi-oiiifliiy
voi'S(!(l in divino tnitli, sti-oni^ly attMclu^l to Prnslu'toi-iiinisni,
and, MS tluiir liv(>s sliowod, i-oady to suH'or tlu; lo^'ss of all
tliini^s latlifM' tlian rcnouncf^ tJu^ cause tlioy loved. H'lio
impress tlicy i,'avo to tlio dnii'cli tliey fonndf^d lias never
Imm'U elllictid, liik(! letttM'S cliiscilled in the dnriil)]e rock, it
is as marked and mjuiin^st to-d;iy, as, wlien, amid l.tbours
al)nn<lant, it was lii'st trac(Ml in oniJiiK!. AmoiiL,' all the
memhei'S of the Pi'esbytcM'ian family, ther(i is noiu; tliat
stiinds more fii-inly and resolutely i)y the faitji they
iau<,dit or that adhei-es morc^ closcily and inflexihly to
i\\v. simplicity and ])iirity of Scriptural worsliip than the
cliurch they )»!ant(!d in hvdMiid. Thoui^h few in number,
and hciset witli many dilliculties, they did more; foi- tliat
land than all its other public servants of their own or of
several jtrevious i,'en' itions They estai)lished the princi-
j>l(;s of triu? i'elii,don within its borders to a lari^er extent
than had been pr(!viously aecom[>lished from the time that
the llciformation first tou(;hed its shores. Tiiey b(!i^an a
work in Dlstei', now tin; finest and most populous of its
provinces, that converted it from biiing oiu; of th(; most
turhuhmt, disordei'ly and un[U'ogi-essive s(,'ctions of the
kingdom into the most peaceabh;, lavv-al)iding, and pi'os-
jjerous. And when tlu; work they began shall have rciatihed
its culmination and the faith tlu^y )»ropagated shall have
achieved the p(;iu;eful coixpiest of its (Mitire )»o[)ulation
that is assuredly eni'olh^d among its fu»'tur(^ triumphs, the
whole land, lifted up out of the ignorance, poverty, and
crime that have for ages darkened its history, shall become
resplend(Mit with the glory of the maUirial and inoi'al ex-
cellence that never fails to spring from the prevalence
and Hupi'emacy of a puie gospel.
IMIUSIMCUITY AN.) TKUSKCUTION.
i i
(JIIAri'KK V.
ri{(»SI'KIHTY AM) I'EHSKCUTION.
The ('hiirch ';;rc)\viiiu^ ;i|):icc liciiiiirkaldc Rcli'^ioiis Rc\i\:il :it oldstone -<)]»|H)si-
tioii froin i;<iiiii.-;li I'rii'stn iumI oIIiits I'crHC'ciil ion Im"^uii nnitorniily of
worsJii)" I'liforccd The I'rcsliytcriaM Miiiisli rs driv rn from llii'ii- piirishcs, ;irnl
i)l)litC<'il Id Iciivc tin.' country Some iiiidi rhikc to ^^i lo Nl'W Kn^liind Tliu
ICii^lc WiiiLf l''ailiin' of llir ciitcriMisc lifli'jioiis ri'vcliilioti in Scolland
'i'lius, iiii iisyliini opcMicd to tlu' Iciiiislicd ministers .More jtcrscciiiion T\r-
iiniiy of \Vfn(\vortli The lliitck <);dti All Scots to lie banished from llsler
l'";ill of Strail'ord Ili.s trial and LNi'cntion Itilicadin;^ of I.aiid and CharlcH,
liJH iisHociates in tyranny and oppressioi).
S ALUKADY iiidicutod, tin; iiiiiiistcrs wliosi; iiatncs
arc I'ecofdtMl in the foregoing chaptof, woi-c all incii
* of higli Clu'i.stian character, and Llio fact tliat they
cliosc to sii/Hn' cxih; r'atli(!r tliaii suhmit to an un-
scriptural nuxh' of woi'ship sliows tliat tlu!y w{!i"o also men
of strong i-(!ligious convictions, as well as of dct![) p{;rs(Mial
piety. Scildoin has the Churrh of Chi'ist in any land l>i!cn
lavonred witli a band of more faithfid and devoted sia-v.mts.
As their aim was to revive and extimd true religion within
tlie li(dd of theii' labours, tlusv cxhibittMl unwonted dili^fence
in thisir end(!avours to pi'omote this great object. What one
of them, Ml'. Ulair of IJangcjr, says of himself, may bo fairly
regarded as a just description of the fidelity with which
they severally dischai'i.'(!d the fuiictions of theii' ollic(;.
" 1 proacluul twice ovcsiy week, btisidiis the Jjoi'd's <lay,"
says that eminent divints, "on all which (xjcasions I found
little dilliculty as to mattiu' or method. iJut finding still
that this fell short of r(;achlng the design of a gos[)el
ministry, and that the most part rcimained vastly ignorant,
I saw the necessity of trying a more plain and i'amiiiar
78 I'RKSIJVTKIIIAN CllUIUMl IN IHKLAND.
way (>r insliiK.'lini^ tlKsiii ; ;um1, (,]i(!iH!f()i-(!, lu'sidc'S my
jmhlic |H-(!;u'liiii;^, I s|H!iit as imK^Ii l.iiiK; (!V(!ry week as
my Ijoilily stidii^'th oouKl hold <ait witli, in (sxliortiii;^
and cat(!cliising thorn. . . . knowing tliat div(!rsit,y of
gil'Ls is entertaining to th(! hciai'oi", Mr. (Junningliam (of
Holy wood) and I did fn^jucntly ])i-('ach for one; another,
and wo also agro(Ml to (;olol)rat(! the saoramont of th(5 Lord's
Sii|)]K!r fonr tirrnjs in oacli of our congK^gations annually, so
that thos(! in hoth parish(!S who w(;ro tliriving in religion did
communicate t«)geth(M- on all those occasions." In disjxnising
tli(; communion, though in an h]stal)lishm(!nt nominally
episcopal, tluiy all adhfsred to tluj Presl>yt(;iMan usage ; and,
in their pr(!aching th<;y wei'o no less united in ju'oclaiming
the distinguishing do(;triri(5S of the th(!ology which in
those days, is more; fi'cupiently ussociat(;d with tlui name
of Calvin, and whi(!h, in those titnes, was universally
maintained throughout tla; tln'oe Nati<jnal (Jhurches of the
empin;. 'I'luiir- su|»port, in some cas(!S, was d(!riv(!d fi-om
the titli(!S of the parisluss that (uijoytid their lal)oui-s, and,
in otluus, from a stipulat(!d amount, jjaid directly by the
patron, in li(;u of the tithe whicJi was re(;eiv<Ml dir(!ctly l)y him-
K<!lf, su]»j»l<'ment(!d occasionally hy a stipend from the p(;o})le.
Other things peculiar to Pioshyterian polity wcjre not neg-
lected. Tlujy had (hsacons for th<; poor, and elders for- disci-
pline. As they were few in mimber, and surrounded by many
\v\n) had littl(! sympathy with their (Christian zeal, and who felt
their own indolence rcjbukiid by the activity and success of
their labours, they werevh*awn together into freijuent fellow-
shi|>, and found an outward bond of union in monthly
meetings usually held at Antrim, to which " as to a sohunn
invigorating feast, they diligently r'esor"t(5d accompanicid by
th(^ nioio rc.'Iigious por-lion of Dut p(;o|>l(!." Livingston
doHcribes these mc(!tings as follows : — " We uscjd ordinarily
to meet tin; first Friday of every month at Anti'im,
I'KOSI'KIUTY ANI> I'KHSKCUTlON. 79
\vli(;ic was a L,'r(!at and Ljoofl coii^M'iipitioii, and tliat
day was .s|)(!nt in fastinif and |)i-ay(!!-, and jtiiUlic nr-cach-
ing. (Jonnnoidy two prcjaclicd v.vc.i-y forenoon, and two
in tlio afternoon. \V<; n.sed to conio togother tli(! TImm'S-
day's night Ixsfort', and stayed tli(i Friday's iiiglit aftcn-,
and (;onsult(!d al)o\it .sneli things as eoiuHirncd tlu; carry-
ing on of th(! wo!-k of Clod ; and these; nK^etings aniofig
onrselves wei'e sorncitinies as j)rolital»h! as (jitiier j)r<!sl)yteri(;K
or synods. Sm;h as laid religion t(3 lieart us(.'d to coii-
v(!ne to tli(!S<! nuietings, i!Sp(;(;ially otit of the; Six-niihvwater
\all(;y, wJiich was nearcist liand, and wh(!re was the gi'(!at«!st
mnnher of religious j)eoj)h; ; and fi-ecjuently tlie Sahhatli
aft(!r the Friday's nuMiting the communion was (iidehrattid in
oni! or oth(!r of our |»ai-isli(!S. Among all the niinist«!rs,
tlier(! was nc^vci- any ja.)- or j(!alousy ; ycja, noi' amongst the
professors, the gn^itcist nund)er of tluMu lieing Scots, and
SOUK! good lunnlxsr of Vi'vy gracious Knglisii; all wliose
(contention was to prefer other.s to themselves. And ultiiough
the gifts of the minist<!rs were; niu(;li dillei'ent, yet it was not
(jl)S(!rved that tin; pccoph; followcMl any to tin; undervaluing of
others I do not think theru; wen; mon; lively
;ind exp(!i'i<'nc<'(| ( 'hristians anywh(M'(! than wisre th(!S(5 at
this tim(! in Ireland TIk! jxirpetual i\y,\r that
the l)ish(jpH would put away their ndnist(!rs mad(! them with
gr(!at hungei- wait on th(! ordinaniMis. I hav(; known them
como sevisral mihcs from their own iiouses to communions,
to th<; Satunlay's sermon, and sjxmding the whole Siitui'day's
night in sevei'«,I conipanies, sometimes a miuiHter being with
them, and sonuitimes themselves alone, in conference and
j>ray(n'. Th(fy have th<in waited on th(; j)»il)lic ordinanc(!H
tli(! whoh; Sabbath, and spent the Sabbath night in the same
way, and yet at th(i Monday'w sermon were not troubled
with sle(;piness, and so th(!y have not slept till thoy w(!nt
lionu!. lit thos(! days, it was no great diHiculty foi- a minis-
80 FKK.SHYTKltlAN (JIlUKCll IN lUIiLlND.
ter to j»r(!ach ov j)r;iy in public oi- privatij, sucli was tlie
Imiiger of the luiai'ers, aiul it was hard to judgo whetliiu-
tlicie was more of tlic Lord's prusoucu in the piil)lic or jui-
vate meetings.
These luontldy meetings were begun as early as the year
1G26, and u^rew out of a reniarkal)le reliijious awakiniiuir
which began in the prevh)us year, and which, as tlu; (irst
ini[»ortant incident in the history of the Irish Prt-sby terian
(Jhurch, is entitled to s[H!cial notice. It has becin said th.it
•
" He who of greatest woi k.s in liiiislier.
Oft employs the weakest minister."
This religious revival is a striking illustration of the state-
ment. It first began to nuike itself distinctly visible under
the ministry of the Rev. James Glendinning, who, of all the
brethren, was the least likely to initiate such a movement.
Its history may best bo given in tin; words of a narrative of
the period. " Mr. Blair coming over from Bangor to Car
rickfergus, on some business, and occasionally luniring Mr.
Glendinning preach, j)erceived some sjiarkles of good in-
clination in him, yet found him not solid but weak, and not
titted for a })ublic j)lace and among the English, on which
Mr. Blair did call him, and. using freedom with him, advised
him to go to some place in the countij' among his country-
men, whereupon he went to Oldstone, near tlu; town of
Antrim, and was there placed. He was a man who would
never have been chosen by a wise assembly of ministers, nor
sent to begin a reformation in this land. For he was little
better than distracted, yea, afterwards did actually become
so. Yet this was the Lord's choice to begin with him the
admirable work of God ; which I mention on purpose that
all men may see how the glory is only the Lord's in making
a holy nation in this profane land, and that it was not by
might, nor by mark's wisdom, but by my sjtirit, saith the Lord.
IMIOSI'KIUTV ANi) PERRECtlTlON. 81
At Oldsioiic, (J()(l iiijulc iiso of him Lo ii\v;ik(Mi tlio coii-
sci(Mic('S of ii 1(!W(1 iuul Kccui'(i j)0()pl(i tlicrciabouts. in seeing
tlie lewdness iuid ungodly sinfulness of the peo})le, lio
])reiidi(Hl to them nothing hut hiw-vvnith, ;ind tli(» tenors of
God for sin. ^Vnd in veiy deed, for this only was ho fitted^
for hardly co.ad he preach any other thing. But, behold
th(^ success ! For the hearers finding thems(ilves condemned
by the mouth of God speaking in His Word, fell into such
aiixi(itv and terror of conscience, that they looked on them-
selves as iiltogether lost and d;imn(>(l ; and this work
ap])eared not in one singhi person or two, but multitudes
wfM'e bi'ought to understand their Wity, and to cry out, ' men
and brethriiii, what shall we do to be saved ? ' f have seen
them Tuyself stricken into a swoon with the word ; yea a
dozen, in one day, carri(Ml out of doors as dead, so marv(d-
lous was the pow(>r of (iod smiting their hearts for sin,
condemning and killing. And ol" these were noiui of the
weaker S(!X or spirit, but ind(M;d sowie of the boldest spirits,
who fornuirly feared not with theiir swords to })ut a whole
market-town in a fray, yet in defence of their stubbornness
cared not to b(^ in ])rison and the stocks, and being incorri-
gible, wore so ready to do the like tin; next day. I have
heard one of them, then a mighty strong man, now a mighty
(/hristian, say tiiat his (Mid in coming to clnirch was to con-
sult with his com})anions how to work souje mischief. And
y(!t at one of these sermons was he so catched, that he was
fully subdued. But why do T s})eiik of him i we knew, and
yet know multitudes of such nu;n who sinned and still
gloried in it, because; they feared no man, y(;t are now
patterns of soci(!ty, fearing to sin Ix^cause they fciar (rod.
And this spr(Nul throughout the country to admiration,
especially al»out that river, commonly called the Six-mile-
water, for there this work began at lirst. At this time of
people's gathering to Christ, it pleased the Lord to visit
6
82 TRICSnYTKUlAN C:lIURCn IN niKLANH.
niorcifully tlu; honoui-abUs family in Antriiu, «o as Sir .Jolin
Clotwortliy, and my lady, his motlior, and liis own pre-
eiouK lady, did sliiiic, in an cmincMit manner in rocciiving
tho gospel, iind oHhrintj; tli('ms(;lv('S to tlu! Lord ; whose
example instantly other i^entlemon followed, snch as ('aptain
Norton, and othiM-s, of whom the gospel made a elear and
cleanly conijuest."
As the I'evival proceeded, several of those in the paj'ish of
Oldstone who had become snhject to its gracious inlluence
began to meet together on tlu; last Friday of every month
for " prayer, mutual edification, and conference on what
they found within them." At first, only a few attended,
V)ut, in a short time, the number became so great tliat " the
ministers who had bogottcm them again to Clu-ist thought
fit that sonu; of tliem should be still with tluMu to [)revent
what hurt might follow." Accordingly I\Ir. llidge, the
minister of Antrim, " perc(;iving many peoj)l(! on l)oth sides
of the Six-mile- water awakened out of their security, made
an overtuK^ that a nionthlv meetinsj: mitjht be set i)i)art at
Antrim, whicli was within a mile of Oldstone, and lay cen-
tral for the awakened persons to resort to." The proi)osal
was eagerly embraced ; the Antrim meetings were com-
menced ; the })arish church was selected as the place of
assembly ; the ministers of Down and Antrim willingly
attended, and Sir John Clotworthy, the Lord of the soil, was
forward to lend his sympathy and support. These meetings
were eminently beneficial, and did much to dire<!t and
extend the great revival niovenu;nt that was in ])rogress at
the time ; crowds resorted to them from all quarters, the
religious influence that attended them spread far and wide,
and, unlike some of the so-calleil revivals of our times, did
not expire with a few weeks of fanatical excitement. " This
blessed work of conversion, which was of several years con-
tinuance, si)read, says Blair, one of the ministers, beyond the
PKOSPKUITY AND rKIiSKfTTIOX. 83
})oU!uls of Antrim aiul Down to tin; skirls of iiciglibouring
coiiiiti(!S. . . . Preaching and praying vvimc so [tlciasant
in tliose days, and lioarors so eager and greedy that no day
was long enongli, nor any room great enough to answer their
strong desires and hirge ex[)(^cta,tions."
This remai'kahlo niovemcint, as was to be expecteid, awoke
opposition. Th(^ llomisli priests l)ecame alarmed, two
friars, trained at Salamanca, Spain, noted for tlieir conti'o-
versi.u powers, challenged Blair and Welsh, two of the
Presbyterian ministers, to maintain tluuv doetrincis in a i)uhlic
discussion. The chaHciige was jiromptly accei)ted, and the
terms of discussion speedily arranged. But when the ap-
pointed day arrive<l, the friars, deeming discretion the better
part of vfdour, failed to make their appearance. Strange to
say, several J^]pisco})al clergymen seemed dis[)osed to take uj)
the challenge the friars had abandoned, and Mr. Blair was
at length obliged to break a lance with one of them, whose
name was Freeman. The subject of discussion was the doc-
trine of reprobation, one of the confessedly difficult questions
of Calvinism ; but the ardent chami)ion of Arminianism
proved no match for his able and learned antagonist, and on
the second day he was forced to retire in discomfiture from
the contest.
0})position of a more formidable chaiacter awaited the
Presbyterian nunisters of Ulster. They never w(!re, in any
true sense, dissenters from the Est}ii)lishment, l>ut were
rather comprehended in it by a wis(> and liberal arrange-
ment which allowed them to be inducted into livings and
enjoy the tithes. As they refused to accept prelatic orders,
the bishops, in deference to their scruples, joined with the
Presbyterian ministers in their several localities in ordaining
them. They were also wont to meet with the bishops for
mutual consultation. Several of them were even members
of the Convocation of 1G.'34:, which was specially convened to
84 IM.'KSI'.VTKIMAX CUVilCll IN IKKF.ANl).
((fleet ii union Wet \.\(cii liic i*jii^lisli and Irish ( !linr(t|i(!S.
\\\\{, now tliis \vis(( mi I jiidicions iirran^enKint was rcihsnt-
I(!ssly al)an<lon(!(l. In P^ni^land, liiL,di (diurcli piincijdes had
])'.Hm rajtidly gaining as(;(uidancy, iuu\, in conKiMjiienct!, con-
formity had ])(!f^nu to bo I'i;^ oj-ously ont'orc(M]. With the
elfivution of tlu; infainons Laud, iJishoj) of liOndon, to thc^
S(;(! of Ciintoi-l)ury, the troubh^s of Nou-Coiiforuiists were,
greatly incr(;asod. Fn Ircdand, tlie saiiio jH'incij»l(!S Ix^gan to
prevail, and tlie sain(! policy to bo ])nrsued. Presbytcu'ian
nnnist<!r,-<, after thirty yfiai's' ])f),sses,sion w(!re, in juany
instJinc(\s, eject(!d fi-oni tlu'ir j)arish(!s, and abandonc'd to
penury and want. (Fsslier, the Primate of Armagh, who
was always the warm friend of the Prfisbytiuian clergy, did
wl)at he could to slnslter them from tlie stoini, l)ut, as tlu;
(ivent provf^l, Ik; was utterly nnal)Ic, notwithstanding his
Ijigli cliaract(!r and j)Osition, to afford them the piotection he
(hislred. Fn Juno, IG.'iO, P>laii- and liivingston, then on a
visit to their nativ(j land, wei-f; j»r(!sent at the ccilebrated
revival of the; Kirk of Shotts ; and their pi-oc(!edings on that
occasion gave great offence to the aliettors of ritualism.
(Jharg(!S w(!re accordingly preferred against tlieni by some of
tlu! Scottish ])relatcs ; and in consecpience, in Sej)tember,
1G31, these two brethren were sus[)end(Hl f'-om tlu; ministry
l)y Kchlin, tlu; liishop of Down and (Jonnor, in whose
diocese tlunr jtarishes were situate. Tliey a|»p(>al(Ml to
Ussher against th(! scMitenct; ; and the [)rimate innntuliatcdy
ordered Ids suUragaii to nnnovc; it. Jiut tin; matter did not
end li(!re. The accus(u*s carried th(;ii' comjjlaint to fjondon,
an<l craved the intervention of the royal authori<,y. Charles,
now coinplet((ly undcii' the guidance of Ijaud, instruct(Ml the
authoj-iti(!S in Ir(;land to ivmh^w the jjrosecution. E<;hlin,
j)rompt to obey the will of his royal masttsr, summon(!d not
oidy the two ofr<Miding brethren befort! liim, but two otluus
also, Welsh and Dunbar ; and on theii" it^fusal to abandon
I'KO.SrKKITV AND IM;|{SK<;( ITIUN. iSf)
tlicii" ]»i'iii<'i|>l(!S, iiud coiitorm to hj|>is(;f)|).'i''y, Im; »1(^|»()S(m1 .ill
tli(! tour from Uk; ollicc of the ministry. TliroMj^li IIm; iiittii"-
positiouof |>()WfM-t'ii] f'ri(!ii<l.s tln'y wcrcsoiiK! tiiiM! after Jillowod
to roKumo tlicii- ministi'V for a frw inontlis, biiL tlu; spirit
of intolciiiinco again {)i(!vail(;(l, ami tli(! dooi- of tlu; clmrcili
Wiis (!ir«;ctiially cIoh(!(1 a,L,'aiiist tlicm. Nothing <'Is(3 could
liav(! IxMiii (JxjK't.'tod. (Jharlcs liimsfilf waH litLlf; incliiKMl to
r(',!^iii"d lion conformity witli lavonr. Laml, to wliosi; coun-
sels in (scclcsiiisticiil matttu's In^ was Mindly ol)(;di(!nt,
unifoi'mly acUid as if the chief end of a hisliop vvei'e to (ix-
tini^uisli non-conformity altoi^etluir. Wcntworth, to whom
ahout this time tin! I'vinnj »M»tnisted tlu; vice-royalty of
Ir(iland was a man of kindred spirit. Wluiu he vv(Mit to
ln;land in IG-'M t(^ assuiiK; tlui rcnns of <;'ov(Mnm(Mit, In; took
with Jiim, in the cajtacity of chaplain, .Jt)hn IJramhall, a
man of (lccid(!d ability and (\\t<'nsiv(! (U'udition, i)UU a
violent and intolerant churchman, whom (Jromwell, aft(;r-
wai'ds, from liis resemhlance in spirit and temjiei" to Laud,
styled the Canterbury of Jreland. I Te had hardly (sntered
uj»on ofric(!, when he appoiuti.'d a I'oyal commission to en-
(piirc! into the stat(i of the church in Ircilaiid, and to r(^[»oi"t
to (iovernment. liranihall was a hiadiiiLj member of this
commission. Wlu^n tin; report was forihcomiug, theexistin<^
state of thiii'^s was found to be; truly ap{)alling, \vlu;ther the
support of the cl(;i'gy, or the state of the churcli (Mlifices, or
the character of the incund)ents, was considered. JJad tin;
Vico-roy confined liiuiself to tluj rectification of the innuni(;r-
able gross abuses that disdgurcid the Kstablishment, and
il<!stroy(;d its usefulness, he would have confeired a lasting
ben(!lit of incalcidal)le vahu! upon the country, but this was
not the oidy or the chi(;f ol)ject he had in \i(!W. His great
o])joct was to rcicons-truct tlie Irish Church, to assimilate it
to tlu; (Jhurch of l<]ngland, and abov(i all, to purge; i.: of the
leaveu of Vui'itanisiu. In pursuit of this design, in 10,'U,
»S(» I'KKIJYTKKIAN CIlUKCIl IN IIIKLANI).
li(^ ooiivciH'd ;i pailiuiiKMil, and madc! arriui;^(!iii(!iits at tli(!
sanu! ti 111(1 foj- IIk; iiicotinij; of a convocation of the cl( rgy,
r>y iliis convocation, " tlio cliui'cli was virtually revolution-
ized. Jirjiniliall, wliu iiad i-ecc^ntly been aj)|)(jintcd JJislioji
of Deny, dominated in tlio UpiMT House ; and Wentwortli,
l)y the slieer force of ln'ovv-heating and intimidation, coni-
pelhid the Tjowei- lEousc to yiehl to his wishes. One hun-
dred canons, closely rosenihliiiLC those jirovided for South
Britain in 1 003, were tram el and adoj)t(!d. Tlie very lirst
of these Canons substitutes the thirty-nine articles of the
(Jhurcli of Kni,dand for the Confession drawn up by Usslier
in IGlf), and hitherto acknowledged as the Crec'd of tlu; Ii'ish
KstaMishnient. ' We,' it says, ' <lo receive and .ipprovcj
the I'ook oi' Articles of Religion agreed upon by the ai'ch-
bishoj)s and bishoj)S and the whole clergy, in the Convoca-
tion holden at Lon<lon in the year of our Lord God, ir)()2»
for the avoiding of divcjrsities of o])inions, and for the
estalilishing of consent touching true religion. And, there-
fore, if any hei'eafter shall aHirm tluit (inij of the Articles
'.wain any jKirt superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may
i:ot with a good coiLscifmce stihscribe unto, let hiiti he excoin-
iiiimicated , and not absolved before he make a public revoca-
tion of his (Viror.' Another of these Canons breathes a still
narrower spirit. " Whosoevei- shall separate themselves
from the communion of saints, as it is apj)rov('d by the
A})Ostles' rules in the Church of Ireland, an<l combine tliem-
selvtis to<j:ether in a new Ijrotherhood, accountinijj the Chris-
tians who are conforma])le to the (hjctriiu;, government, rites
and ceremonies of tlu; Church of Ireland to be profane and
uniiKUit for them to join with in Cliristian })rof(?ssion, or
sJtaJl affirm (nid maintain that thei'e are within this realm
otlier nmntinys, asscMiiblicis or conc/i^fr/ations, than such as by
tlie laws of this land are held and allowifd, which may rightly
chiilhnige to themselves the name of true and lawful churches,
I'Kosi'iiuri Y AND i'i:ii.sr.( iTiuN. 87
let him 1»(' (!Xco'iimii!ii(M,tt'.il, mipI not iMiSturt^il until lio i't![MMit
Mud jnil>licly ivivoko his error." Tikjsc! (Jaiions were, not
;iII<)\V(mI to remain a dead letter on tli(^ slatllte-ltook of tii(!
clmrcli. The Itishops imniiMliatcly took steps to ent'oi'cc!
tli(Mii, and all elt'ri^'yinen wiio r«'rused coinj)liaiu;e werij (*jec't(!(l
from their livinL,'s and torhidden to prciich within tiniir
parislies. Wentwoi-th, at the same time, ostaldished a
(you)-t of Hi,i,di t/ominission which was enipo\v(M'(Ml to
inlliet lines and imprisonment u]>on such of tlu; p(!Opl(5
as voluntarily absented thems(dves from the public and
proHcrilHid \vorshi[».
It now scorned that the Preshytcjrian Church in Ireland
wouhl 1)(! crush(;d out of existcnco altoujctlnn-. She was
|)laccd ()Utsid(^ the pale of the law, and all the resources of
arbitrary power wcu-e em[»loy('d to ellbct hei- extinction.
jVIany long years Ix-fort- she lia<l started on what promised
to be an eminent]}' prosperous career. Duiini:;' thest; y(fars
sIh! had continuetl to grow ajtace, and to siioot forth lier
branches on tb(; right hand aiid on the K;ft. ('Ongi'(^gationy
liad been formed, and, in tin; favourable workings of divine
providenct;, had been snp[)li(Ml with ministers as able, faithful
and (^angelical as w(!re to In; found in any branch of the Re-
formed Church at the time. A great religious and moral re-
formation had be(!n effected throughout the entire community
through the instrumentality of her ministry, wlio liad been
allowed to carry on tiieir work without interference, and to en-
joy, without any compromise of principle, the advantages of the
national Establishment. But now, a most disastrous change
had taken plac(!. In the very nudst of their usefulness, ,ind
when the work in which they wei-e engaged was [)ros[)eiing be-
yond their most sanguine ex[)ectations, her clergy were driven
fiom their parishes, and forbiilden, undiu" heavy [)enalties, to
exercise their ministry among their attached ilocks. It is
not surprising that, in such circumstances, both ministers
88 PKKSIJYTEKIAN cmJlUJU IN lUKLANJ).
and jKioplo felt greatly (li.scoiirag(vl, uiul tliat some of thorn
lost li(^art altogotliei", and proposed to abandon tlie country,
and to seek in the wilds of tlie Far West the liberty of con-
science denied them in their own land. Accordingly, they
proceeded to build at Grooms))ort, on the County Down
coast, a shij) of one hundred and fifty tons burthen, which
they named the " Eagle Wing," to carry them across the
Atlantic; and in the Autumn of 1G3G, sixteen years after
the pilgrim fathers had landed at Plymouth, one hundred
and forty emigrants, including sevti-al ministers, set sail
from Belfast Lough, for New England. But the enterprise
proved a failure ; winds and waves refused to favour them.
After being two months at sea, they were comjjelled to
return, in a very shattered condition to the i)ort of depar-
ture. Meanwhile, the ejected and silenced ministers, who
still remained in the country, contrived to elude the
authorities, and to i)reacli to their peo[)le in barns and
dwelling-houses as frequently as possible, though they were
in constant danger of imprisonment, as their movements
were constantly w;itched l)y adversaries intcMit upon bring-
ing them into trouble.
Hapj)ily, Scotland, about this time, cast off the yoke of
prelacy and boldly and successfully asserted for itself the
right to worship God in the simi)le Presbyterian fashion
that was dear to its people. In 1G25, James died, and
Charles I. succeeded him. Like his father, Charles had little
love for Presbyterianism, and lent a ready ear to the advice
of Laud to reduce the Scottish Churcli to conformity to the
Church of England. For this pur[)OHe, he enjoiiied the use
of a Liturgy com})iled (>y Laud, which was simply an
ame-nded edition of the Rondsh Missal. The })eople had
hitherto borne with ill-concealed indignation royal inter-
ference with their deeply -cherished initional faith ; but this
fresh blow to their liberties aiiil religion was more ihi\i\
I'Unsl'KUITV AM) I'KKSDCITION. 89
llit'y could l)(!iir. WliffU tli(^ l)«!;iii of Eilinlmrgli, cliul in ;i
wliito sm'|»lic-(', hci^.in to I'ciid tli(! iimv S(!rvico I>ook, in St.
(lihis's (Jliurcli, ;i i)oor .•ii)plo woin;in, iianied Janet Gloddes,
lifted tlic thico-k\i^ged stool on which .slie sat, and crying out,
" Faus(5 loon ! dost thou say mess at my lug," (Iting it at tlie
aflrightod reader's head, who iled in terror from the tumult
that immediately arose. This simple incident was tlie com-
mencement of a memorable ecclesiastical rcivolution. The
Scottish |)eo[»le resolved tliat th(\y would tamely submit to
royal and e})iscopal tyranny and Oj»})ression no longer. The
national covenant, originally drawn up in 1580, binding all
who subscribed to it to adhere to and defend at all hazards
the doctrine and discipline of the Giiurch of Scotland, was
renewed on 1st March, 1638 ; nobles, gentry, ministers and
people signing it with the gn^atest enthusiasm. The peo[)le
of Scotland, thus firmly banded together, found little
(litHculty in emancipating themselves from the hated yoke of
prelacy. Almost all ohe bishops found it convenient to
retire into England, and the King was compelled to abandon
the attemj)t to foice ei)isco{»acy upon an aroused and reluct-
ant nation. Towards the clos(! of the year, the famous
Glasgow Assembly met and chose the celebrated Alexander
Henderson moderator. As soon as this Assembly was con-
vened, it proceeded vigorously to the work of reformation,
formally abolishing the episcoi)al form of church goveiii-
nuiut, removing the bislio[)S from their otHces, declaring tlie
Five Articles of Faith null and void, and condemning the
Service iJook which it had l>een attemj»t(Hl to force u})on the
church ; the moderator ending liis closing address with
the memorable and inspiring words — " we have now cast
down the walls of Jericho : let him that rebuildeth them
beware of the curse of Kiel the l^ethelite."
This hapi)y revolution was a great blessing to Scotland.
It relieved it from an intolerable yoke and restored to its
90 PRi:si)YTi:i;iAN (^iiuucii in ihkland.
[)eo|»lu liberty of vvorsliip. It prov(Ml hanlly less :i Wl«!ssing
to the Irish Preshyteriaii (.'Imrch. It openeil a safe iisylutii
for those of her faithful iriiuisters who were eji!ct(!(l from
their livings, and forced to flee from the country. It scit an
example to her people by which they were not slow to profit.
It encouraj;e<l them to unit(! in offering the vigorous resist-
ance to the arbitrary measures of thcur op))j'essor, which
ultimately contributed in no small measure, to his downfall,
and to the restoi'ation of their reliijious freedom. There was
urgent need for united and determined resistance, for it was
obviously the design of Wentworth to extinguish their
beloved church altogether. With this object in view, h(>
issued a commission to Leslie, Bishop of Down, within
whose diocese the Presbyterians were most numerous, em-
])Owering him to arrest in a summary manner, and to im-
])rison during pleasure, the non-conformists within his
ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He [)roceeded to still further
extremities. To ))revent tlu^ Presbyterians of the North,
from uniting for the defence of their religion and liberty,
as their brethren in Scotland had done, he prejjared a form
of oath conceived in the most slavish style of passive
obedience, jjledging all who took it to honour King Charles,
not to i)rotest against any of his royal commands, and not
to enter into any covenant for mutual defence, without his
Maj(!sty's sovereign and regal authority. A proclamation,
dated 21st May, 1031), re(|uired all the Scotch in Ulster,
above the age of sixteen years, to enter into the engagement.
This bond — henceforth commonly known by the odious desig-
nation of the Black Oath — was im[)osed upon males and
females alike. Those who professed to be Roman Catholics
were alone exempt from its obligation. To make its imposi-
tion the more humiliating, the people were compelled to take
it on their knees, and that none might escape, the E})iscopal
clergy and churchwardens were recjuired tc> make a return
1M{(>8PKH1TV AND PKUSKCUTION. !) I
of :i]l tlu! Scots losidoiit in tlicir resj)f3ctiv(! jKuisluvs. The
iiMiiu's of those wlio <loeliii(!(l to swear were transuiitted to
J-)ul)liii, to he dealt with as tlie liOrd Dejuity inii^lit direct.
By sueh ni«;ans Wifiitwoith hoped to heiid the Presljy-
terians of Ulster into servile ohe«lience ) his will. But he
litth; knew the spirit of the pcjojtlc witii whom he ht'd to
deal. To his astonishinent, mnlti . -.'h's refused to take the
oath, willing to endure any penalty rather than enter into
an eni^agenient which they al)horred. All were (piito willing
to pledge th(;niselves to constitutional liberty, hnt they were
not [)repared to avow implicit obedience to the king in evei't/-
thiiKj he mi(j/it be please' f to comniand. The character of
his reign hitherto had not l)een of a kind to encourage them
to surrender tlxar religion and liberty to his absolute disposal.
Their just scruples were, how(;ver, contemptuously disre-
garded, and the highest jxnialties, short of death, were inflicted
n[»on all who refused compliance. " Pregnant women were
forced to travel considerable distances to tli(; places ap[)ointed
for takijig the oaths. If they hesitat(!d to attend, and still
more, if they scrupled to swear, they were treated in a bar-
barous manner, so that crowds of defenceless females tied to
the woods, and concealed themselves in caves, to escape their
Hicrciless persecutors. Respectable i)ersouH, untainted with
crimes, were bound toijtither and immuied in dunwons.
Several were dragged to Dublin, and fined in exoi-bitant
sums, while multitudes fled to Scotland, leaving their houses
and j)roperties to certain ruin ; and so many of the lal>ouring
population abandoned the country that it was scarcely
[tossible to carry forward the necessary work of the harvest."
Wentworth had not even yet tilled uj) the lull measure of
his iniquity. Determined to cxtir})ate Presbyterianism, root
and branch, out of the land, he [)roceeded to yet fuither
extremities, and actually drew up a plan for the removal of
every Presbyterian from Ulster. Ships were to be provided
92 IMiKSIJYTKUIAN ('IIUKCll IN IHKLAND
iit tlio piihlic MixiKMiso, to Oiiny tliiMii .tway, iiiid tli«;y
wore to 1)0 ol>lig('(l, uiidorsovoi't! ponalticis, to tako tli(Mf (lo[)iir-
turo within ji jiroscrilnid [>i3i-io(l. It is sad to rollout that, in
all thoso harsh aii<l o[»|)rossiv<! hkmsutos, ho oiijoyod the
eiicouragomcnt and co operation of the bishops of the Estah-
lishniout. iraj)pily, this his last project failcnl of accomplish-
nu!nt. Had it htH'ii carried out, it would have led to the
utter ruin of Protostaiitisin iu Ireland ; for, destitute of the
l)owerful assistance of the numerous and resolute Presbyter-
ian pojtulation, the few and scattoied Protestants who would
liave remained in the kingdom, would have been utterly
consumed in the teniblo conflagration enkindled by llomish
fanaticism only twelve months after.
The same stern and successful resistance of the arbitrary
proceedings of Charles and his infamous advisers, Strafford
and Laud, that had manifested itself in Scotland, extended
to England as well as to Ireland. In both countries, the
cause of freedom was seriously imperilled, demanding from
its friends union and co-operation. The English patriots
opened connnunication with Ireland where, it was evident,
there were many who, like themselves, oppressed by the
tyranny of a des})otic Sovereign ;ind the severities of the
prelates, knew the value of civil and religious libei-ty, and
were prepared to stand forward in its defence. To such as
thoKO, the distinguishing epitliet of " Puritan " had been, at
an early period, a])plied. In both kingdoms, they formed
the only pai'ty, who, at this time, entertained correct views
of constitutional liberty ; and though they have been grossly
misre[>resented and maligned, it is now generally acknow-
ledged that they honourably shared with the Scotch Covenan-
ters in the establishment of British freedom. " So absolute,"
says Hume, in his history of England, " was the authority
of the Crown that the precious spark of liberty had been
kindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone ; and it is
PiiaspniuTv AND ri:nsi:(M Tinv. '.):{
i,o tliis s<'ct tlijit Uic lOiigli.sli owe I lie u hold tViH^lom of t.lio
(Jonstitution." In Iih'IuikI, tiny wcic iimiMU'ous, .iinl wimo
to l>e found anioiiijf tli(5 iiuunbcMS of l)otli liouscs of pjulia
inont ; und in Ulstor, tlioiigli in;niy liad Ikhmi foicnd to
abandon tho country and to flo(» to Scotland, tlicy still
constituted the predominant party. In Kngland, tlioy wore
more numerous still, and, ore long, i)eoanie tlio ruling
party. So decided was the inlliience tliat they now
began to wield in Ireland, that W(uitworth found it nec(\s-
sary to abandon his infamous project for the wliolesah*
banishment of the Scots fiom tli(» kingdom ; and so numerous
were they in the ])arlian>ent which met in 1G4() that they
found little dilHculty in controlling its legislation. The
High Commission Court, which had i)een tho chief engine
of the cruel and arbitrary impositions of Strafford's Gov(;rn-
ment, was abolished " as an intolerable grievance and
contrary to tho fundamental laws of tlu^ kingdom." A
remonstrance was adopted, detailing in fifteen articl(;s, the
grievances imi)0sed upon the kingdom during Strafford's
government, and a committee ap})ointed to carry it to Eng-
land, for the purpose of presenting it to the king in person,
and claimini; an immediate redress of the grievances enumer-
ated. This committee on their arrival in P]ngland found
the oppressor of their country, who, a short time pjeviou«,
had gone to London to confer with the King in regard to
public affairs, sti'ij>ped of all his gieat power, imi)eached by
the Commons of England, and im})risoned under the charge
of high treason.
The circumstances which led to this sudden and unex-
pected viscissitude are well known. The pressing necessities
of the King had at length compelled him to summon
another parliament, which sat during the long period of
nineteen years and has, therefore, been styled the Long
Parliament. Its members were chosen at a time when the
&4 rnRSHYTKUlAN CHURCH IN IHF.LAND.
eiiciOiicli mollis of tlio pi'crog.iLivc! u|»im tin; lights jiiid privi-
Icgos of tlu; |)eo|>l<( liad excited tlie utmost ilisuoiitiuit tlirougli-
out tiie kiii^'dom, .iiid roused a spirit of opposition to the
Court tliiit could no lonijor he suUdued or ro})resscd. On
the third of November, 1640, it was opened hy tlie King in
])erson. The redress of tlie nationjd grievances engaged its
early attention. On the 1 Ith of the month, Strailbrd, who was
iustlv h(dd to be the real author of nianv of tlie griev-
ances of which the nation complained, was impeached of
high tieason, and connnitted to the Tower. On the 20th,
the remonstrance of the Irish Commons was presented, and
produced an impression most unfavourable to the Earl.
The non-conformists of Ulster also presented a like remons-
trance on their own behalf, detailing their grievaiic(!s,
both civil and religions, and petitioning for the enjoynu;nt
of liberty of conscience, and more j)articularly for the
restoration of their banii^lKMl pastors, and the endowment
of an ade(juate ministiy as essential to the welfare and
security of the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Commons proceeded with the im[)eacli-
ment of Wentworth, who some time before had been created
Earl of Strafford. Sixteen of the charijes ai^ainst him re-
lated to his government of Ireland, among the most damag-
ing of which were issuing a warrant to Bishop Leslie to
imprison at pleasure the non-conformists of his diocese, and
imposing the Black Oath without authority of Parliament.
His trial commenced in Westminster Hall on the 21st ot
March, and, after seventeen sessions, closed on the 13th of
April. The judicial was then exchanged for the legislative
mode of procedure ; a bill of attainder was speedily passed by
both houses of Parliament, the Royal assent was obtained,
and the unfortunate but guiltv Strafford was beheaded on
Tower Hill, on the 12th of May, 1641, in the 49th year of his
age, leaving behind him a name among the i)eoj)le of Ulster
PKOSPKIIITY AND riOKSECUTIOS. &5
liiinlly less oxticrabli^ than tliusc of Clav«'i liouso and Dal/A^l!
among t]\o, jicoplo of Scotland. Tho two otljcrs, wlio were
closely associat(!(l with liiiii in tlu; tyi'anny and ojjprcssion
for which he .j'^*^^ly sidl'oi(Mi, nu^t a lik(! doom a few years
art(!rwards. Laud died by tin; hand of the |>td)li(; execu-
tioner in January, Kil;"), and (Jiiarlos in January, 10 1!).
9G PUKSIIYTKIUAN CliriU'll IN lllKt.ANU.
ClIAITI'.i: VI.
TFIK IRISM MASSACIIK OF 10 M.
Groat ohariff*; in the iml)lio mlininistration of afTjiii-H after StralTords fall -Uoiiian
Catholics ha<l now little to eoiiiplaiii of - Spirit of diseontent and disloyalty
still prevalent -Onthreak resolved on Tlie various cansegthat united to l)riii^'
it aliout -takes i)la(X' — Indiseriniiiiate slan^hterof Protestants— The Castle and
the Capital saved— Pro;;reaa of the rehellion parti(Milars concierninur lloniish
writers have tried to deny or to exterminate its horrors State of the Preshy-
terian Church at this tinu'.
WHFjN Stnillbrd i-otirod to Kiii^lMud to confer witli
Oliarlfs rcj^^ardini,' tlu^ inoasiiros to be takou for
in.'iintiiiniiii; tlio j-oy^al cause in tlie face of all
opposition, Parliament, wliicli assemUkid ti f(;\v
months tiftcn-wards, freed from the restraints of his prescuice,
became suddenly inspired with the spirit of liberty, and pro-
ceeded to relieve the country from the intolei-itble grievances
of his administration. For once, the Presbyterians and the
Roman Catholics, who had both felt the keen edge of his
tyranny, comVnned for their mutual deliverance. United,
they were more than a match for the friends and supporters
of the Lord-Lieutenant and the ])relates. Hardly a grievance
of which the country comi)lained was left unredressed.
The High Commission Court, which had been the main
instrument of Stratford's desi)otisni, was abolished, as has
been already recorded ; the unjust and oi)pressive proceed-
ings of the ecclesiastical courts and the illegal and cruel
severities of the prelates were annulled. The two Lords-
justices, to whom, on the fall of Strafford, the government of
the country liad been committed, were both Puritans, and in
full sympathy with thorn in their remedial measures. In
all their official proceedings they manifested an earnest desire
TIIK lltlair MASSAfRR OF 1 (> M . 97
to remove <'v«iry traco of IIk^ iiuHijovi'riiment that \\iu\
ufHictod the kiiiLjdoin. Kiiie.s tliat liiul \)vxm wrongfully
iin|)Oso(l wore roiuittod, atid persons that had Ijooii unlaw-
fully inijuisoued wero sot froe. Their administration, in con-
sequence, was universally popular, and a new era of peace and
prosperity seemed to be dawning on the country.
The Roman Catholics, who still consLituted the bulk of
the i)opulation, had now little to complain of. Their just
rights were fully lecognised. They enjoyed the free* exercise
of their religion, and every ofKce of dignity and emolument
in the country was open to them no loss than to the
Protestants. Hardlv a single grievance remained to nourish
a feeliiig of discontent in their breasts, or to supply a pre-
text for disloyalty and rebellion. And it seemed that at
length they had settled down into a cheerful acceptance of
the existing order of things. For forty years they had been
at peace, and so far as outward appearances furnish(hl means
of judging, not for forty years more but for all time to come,
they were certain to be at peace. The tranquility, however,
that prevailed was but the stillness that precedes the storm.
Beneath it lay, all unseen, like smouldering tires, designs of
the most treasonable character formed long before, and now
about to proclaim their unsuspected existence by the most
dreadful outburst of race and creed hatred that had ever
convulsed the country.
This memorable outbreak was, doubtless, the result of Jesuit
intrigue, planned and brought to pass for the purpose of eftect-
ing the overthrow of the British power in Ireland, the
restoration of the Papal su[)remacy, and, above all, the utter
extirpation of the Protestant religion.
From the time that the Pope made a gift of Ireland to the
English Crown till the Reformation, the Romisli priesthood
were always the obsequious supporters of the English power.
Even bishops and archbishops did not hesitate to march to
7
98 FUfiSBYTEKlAN CIlUROlI IN IKELAND.
the battlefield against their fellow-countrymen when they
rose in rebellion. Were Entrliind still in cointnunion with
the See of Home, they would doubth^ss now Ix; no less
zeulous in the maintenance of its ])ower. But, since the
Reformation, and especially since the entrance of the Jesuits
into the country, they have been as earnest and active in
opposing the English rule as they had formerly b(!en in su{»-
porting it. The secret of their oppowition is to be found,
not in the desire to free their country from a foreign yoke,
but in the deep and implacablt; hatnnl they bear to the
Protestant religion, and in the guilty desiie they cherish
to eflfect its utter extermination. As the British power
has been its chief shelter, they have never ceased to conspire
secretly for its overthrow, in the anticipation that its down-
fall would leave the Romish religion without a rival in the
field ; and though for the last forty years they had apparently
acquiesced in its supremacy, it was not because they had
ceased to desire its destruction, or to conspire for its over-
throw, but because they knew that the hour for striking
an effective blow had not yet come. That hour, however, as
they fondly imagined, was now at hand, and various causes
had combined to bring it about.
The wars of Elizabeth's reign had left Ireland in such a dis-
peopled and depressed condition that, for long after, any at-
tempt at rebellion must have necessarily ended in failure and
' disaster, but, during the forty years of peace that had now pre-
vailed, a great change had taken place. The Romish popula-
tion, even in the north, had increased greatly, and, if numbers
could ensure success in a great uprising, numbers would cer-
tainly not be wanting, for, as the people had multiplied,
they had been carefully trained by their spiritual guides
to cherish the most intense hatred of every thing British
and Protestant, and to expect the hour when the Saxon
invadera and oppressors should be driven from their shores.
THE HUSH MASSACRE OF 1041. 1)0
It retjuinMl but little arj^'uuiont to indiico a jh»oj)1o subjected
from their earliest years to sudi uiiwliole.sonio tutiilago, to
unite in a secret and standing conspiracy wliich they wore
industriously taught to regard as certain to bring about the
utter overthrow of the liritish ]>ower, tlie entire extirpa-
tion of the Protestant I'eligion, the re-establish inent of th(;ir
own faith in its ancient supremacy, and the restoration of
their country to the exclusive possession of its own children.
But a year or two before his sudd(;n fall, StraHbrd had
raised an army of eight thousand foot and one thousand
horse to support Charles in his arbitrary measures, and
especially to hold the Scots of the north in check, and to
prevent them from rendiu'ing assistance to their compatriots
in Scotland, who, at the time, were resolutely and success-
fully resisting the royal encroachments. The Parliament of
England, seeing in this large and well-disciplined body of
troops a force that might ultimately bt; employed for the
subversion of their own liberties, succi;ed(Hl, but not without
difficulty, in inducing the king to disband it. The dispersed
soldiers were Romanists almost to a man, animated by
the same fierce hatred of the persons and religion of the
British that rioted in the breasts of their fellow countrymen,
and certain to render most effective servicer in any movement
that promised the liberation of Ireland from its fancied
bondage, and the extinction of the Protestant religion.
The descendants of the former owners of the forf)ited
estates in the North never abandoned the hope of regaining
the lands their fathers had lost. They lived in favour at the
courts of Rome and Madrid, where they were treated with the
utmost consideration. Conscious that theii- deeply-cherished
hopes could never be realized so long as the power of
England was predominant in Ireland, they spent much of
their time in planning and fomenting conspiracies for its
entire and speedy subversion. They kept up constant cor-
100 PRKSBYTKUIAN CJllUHCH IN FIIKLANI).
respondonce witk tli<!if Kilative.s jiiid friends in Irol.uid, juid,
by this moans, diligcnilly sonj^dit to fostcsr tlio spirit of dis-
content and disloyalty that tliey knew was prevalent among
the peo[)le, and to incite them to rebellion. In the Irish
priests, whom they were wont to meet in the daily inter
course of life, they found willing emissaries, tilled with
liatred of England as intense as their own, in deep sympathy
with them in their secret plottings for the overthrow of its
power, and ready, on their return to Ireland, to engage with
the utmost zeal in sowing sedition among their co-reliijion-
ists, and in securing their united adhesion to a scheme for
the expulsion of the Saxon oppressors from their shores to
which thousands of them already stood pledged. To encour-
age their friends in Ireland, who included the entire Celtic
population of the island, to rally as one man around an
undertaking which, they knew, commanded their warmest
8ym[)athy, they gave them the assurance of such help
from the Continent as should place it beyond the possibility
of failure.
It is certain that the Romish priests in Ireland, instigated
by the Jesuits, were, as has been already indicated, dee[)ly im-
plicated in all the movements that issued in open rebellion.
In taking the initiative in these movements, they were not
altogether prompted by considerations professedly religious
and patriotic. Motives of a less spiiitual and more worldly
character entered into their calculations and stimulated
their exertions. They looked with an envious eye upon the
ecclesiastical property that was controlled by the Protestant
clergy, and did not shrink from involving the country in
the horrors of civil war, in order that they might wrest it
out of their hands and make it their own. The hour was
now at hand, as they fondly imagined, for the realization of
this, and all the other objects they hoped to accomp-
lish. A number of favourable circumstances already enu.
THE IRISH MASSACRE OF 1641. 101
meratod hiid apparently conspirod to furthor its arrival ;
and, as it drow nigli, thoy [)liod uU tlioir energies with
redoubled zeal. Every urgunient that could arouse the
national prejudices and enkindle the religious animosity of
an ignorant and excitable populace was vigorously employed ;
and, it' at any time, their pliant dupes showed symptoms of
hesitation in view of tlie danger tliat would necessarily at-
tend the enterju-ise, they souglit to I'eanimate their wavering
courage by reminding them of the success that had attended
the late strugj;les of the Scots in defence of their national
faith and independence, and by assuring them that the
rupture between the king and the English parliament that
had recenfly taken place would soon lead to civil war, when
England, torn by the dissensifuis and conflicts of her own
children, would be able to do but little to maintain and pre-
serve her authoiity in Ireland,
At length, the long-projected insurrection Vn'oke out on
Saturday, the 23i'd of Octol)er, 1641, resulting in a massa-
cre of the protestants of Ulster, for which the history of
Christendom happily furnishes few parallels. With such
secrecy and dissimulation had all the preparatory pro-
ceedings been conducted that it was not till their infuriated
and savage foes were u[)on them that the unsuspecting and
all-unprepared colonists weie made aware of the impending
danger. At first, the Scottish settlers were unmolested, but
as the rebellion proceeded, all classes of protestants were
involved in the same indiscriminate slaughter. Within a
fortnight after the commencement of the insurrection, no
less than thirty thousand Northerns appeared in arms,
ready to carry fire and sword into every protestaiit home in
Ulster, and determined to sweep away every trace of the
Protestant religion out of the country.
It was the design of the conspirators to seize Dublin
Castle at the outset, but happily this main part of their
102 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
scheme was frustrated by the promptness and energy of
Owen O'ConnoUy, an elder of the Presbyterian Chnrch*
who had been bred a Romanist, but had been converted to
Protestantism during the Oklstone revival. On the very
day preceding the day appointed for the impending rising,
O'Connolly met McMahon, an intimate acquaintance, and
one of the leading conspirators, in Dui)lin, who, probably
ignorant of his change of religion, cautiously confided to him
the secret of the approaching outbreak. That very night,
O'Connolly managed to convey the astounding intelligence
to the Lords-justices, who promptly took measures by which
the Castle and Capital were saved, and the peace of the sur-
rounding districts preserved. In the sudden and terrible
emergency, the colonists were unable, at first, to offer any
effectual resistance. Two years before they had been dis-
armed by Strafford to prevent them from assisting their
brethren in Scotland. Led by Sir Phelim O'Neill, the rebels
seized Charlemont, the .chief stronghold in the north, while
other leaders seized all the other positions of importance
in the province, with the exception of Enniskillen, Newton-
Limavady, Coleraine, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Bellast,
which were happily })reserved from ca})ture by the vigilance
and bravery of their inliabitants, and became places of refuge
to those Protestants in the surrounding districts who had
the good fortune to escape the merciless butchery of the
blood-thirsty multitudes who, more ferocious than hungry
wolves, were scattered over the whole [)rovince, everywhere
slaking in the blood of their protestant neighbours those
vengeful passions which their priesthood had been diligently
fostering in their breasts for years. Ulster was now turned
into a veritable shambles. Language fails to convey an
adequate idea of the horiid scenes of which it became the
theatre. Besides those that were killed outright, of helpless
women, some were broiled ou hot gridirons, and others were
THE IRISH MASSACRE OF 1641. 103
first stripj)ed naked, and then ripped up with knives ; of
strong men, some had their eyes gougod out, or their hands
or tlieir cars cut off, others were buried alive, and othen*
still were subjected to a yet woi-se fate--the rebels cut
slices of flesh from their bodies, and then roasted them alive.
Even tender infants were not allowed to escape in this dread
carnival of butchery and blood. Some had their brains dashed
out against stone walls; others were flung into boiling pots, or
tossed into <litches to the pigs. On the very day on which
the rebellion began, over fifty persons were murdered in the
County of MonagliMn, and fifteen in the County of Fermanagh.
On the day after, one hundred and ninety-six, including men,
women and children, were drowned at the bridge of Porta-
down, and there is credible evidence that no less than a
thousand in all peri lied there in the same manner. On one
occasion, Sir Phelim O'Neill issued an order for the slaughter
of all the Protestants in three adjacent parishes, and the
order was obeyed to the letter. In the depths of a winter
of unusual severity, protestant planters of all ages were
stripped naked, driven from their homes, and left to perish
of cold and hunger in the open fields. It is said that
the river Black water in Tyrone ran red with the blood
of the murdeied. To enter into a detailed statement
of all the atrocities that were committed in this dread
hour of inhuman barbarity is impossible. Some of them
have sunk into oblivion ; others cannot be put in print,
those that have been recorded would require volumes for
their reheai-sal. The following graphic and a cting
description by Mrs. McCaulay, the female historian of
England, will enable the reader to gather an accurate con-
ception of the state of things in Ulster in this dark period of
its history : — " An universal massacre ensued ; nor age, nor
sex, nor infancy were sjiared ; all conditions were involved
in the general ruin. In vaia did the unhappy victim appeal
104 PRESBYTEllIAN CHUKCII IN IRELAND.
to the sacred -ties of liumaiiity, liospitality, family con-
nection, and all tlie tender ohligations of social conniierce ;
companions, friends, relations, not only cUinied protection,
but dealt with their own hands the fatal blow. In vain
did the pious son plead for his devoted parent; himself was
doomed to suffer a more premature mortality. In vain did
the tender motlier attempt to soften the obdurate heart of
the assassin in behalf of lier helpless children ; she was
reserved to see them cruelly butchered, and then to underi^o
a like fate. The weeping wife, lamenting over the mangled
carcass of lier husband, experienced a death no less horrid
than that which she deplored. This scene of blood received
a yet deefjer stain from the wanton exercise of more exe-
crable cruelty than had even yet occurred to the warm and
fertile imagination of eastern barbarians. Women, whose
feeble minds received a yet stronger exi)ression of religious
frenzy, were more ferocious than the men, and children,
excited by the example and exhortation of their })arents,
stained their innocent age with the blackest deeds of human
butchery.
" The persons of the English were not the only victims to
the general rage ; their commodious homes and magnificent
buildings were either consumed with tire, or laid level with
the ground. Their cattle, tliough now part of the possession
of their murderers, because they had belonged to abhorred
heretics, were either killed outright, or, covered with wounds,
were turned loose into the woods and deserts, there to abide
a lingering, painful end. This amazing unexpected scene of
horror was yet heightened by the bitter revilings, impreca-
tions, threats, and insults, which everywhere resounded in the
ears of the astounded English. Their signs, groans, shrieks,
cries, and bitter lamentations, were answered with — ' Spare
neither man, woman, nor child ; the English are meat for
dogi ; there shall not e one drop of English blood left
TIIK IIIISII MASSAC'llK OF 1641. 105
within the kiugilcjiii.' Nor did tliore want tlio most barbarous
insults and exultations on buliolding those expressions of
ai^onising [)ain which a varitity of torments extoi'ted."
Thougli all classes of British Protestants, whether of
Kn<^lish or Scotch origin, were .dike doomed to destruction,
yet, on none did the storm fall more heavily th in on the
ministers of the Establishment. VVentworth's policy of
intolerance liad driven most of the Scotcii clergy and many
of the more influential of the laity out of the kingdom,
and when the dreadful deluge of carnage and blood was
sweeping over Ulster, they were far beyond its ravages,
and safe in their native land. But it was different with
the Episcopal clergy. When their Presbyterian brethren
were driven into exile, they enjoyed the full sunshine of
State favour and patronage. But now, they, in their turn,
were doomed to suffer, and to suffer too, to a far greater
extent than their biethren of the Scottish Church had suf-
fered. When they fell into the hands of the rebels no mercy
was shown them. Some were hanged, then dismembered,
and pieces of their own bodies thrust into their mouths in
mockery ; others were drowned ; and others still were
brutally murdered. One, the Reverend Thomas Murray, of
Killyleagh, " was actually crucitied in blas[>hemous mockery
of the awful tragedy of Calvary between two other Pro-
testant gentlemen ; his two sons were then killed and cut to
pieces before their mother's eyes," after which, the mother
was subjected to the like inhuman treatment.
The Bible has always been the special object of Romish
hatred. During the insurrection the rebels taxed their
ingeauity to discover methods whereby to express their
deep detestation of the sacred volume. " They have torn it
to pieces, say the Commissioners in their Remonstrance,
presented by the agent for the Irish clergy to the English
Ccmmons scarcely four pionths a,iter the breaking out of
lOG PRESBYTRRIAN CHURCH TN IRELAND.
the rebellion, they have kicked it up and down, treading it
under foot, with leaping thereon, they causing a l)agpi[)e to
play the while ; laying also the leaves in the kennel, leap-
ing and trampling thereupon, saying, * a plague on it, th'i
book has bred all the quarrel,' hoping within three weeks
all the Bibles in Ireland should V)e so used, or worse, and
that none should be left in the kingdom ; and while two
Bibles were in burning, saying, that it was hell fire that was
burning, and wishing they had all the Bibles in Christendom,
that they might use them so."
One special instance may suffice as an accurate repre-
sentation of the dreadful scenes that were of daily occurrence,
in this dark and troubled time, in all those parts of Ulster
that had been settled by English and Scotch colonists. In
1610, William Hamilton, from Ayrshire, Scotland, settled on
the farm of Ballybreagh, in the parish of Killinchy, which
skirts the western shore of Louijh Strangford, Countv Down.
As the years wore on, the worthy farmer prospered more and
more, and when the rebellion broke out there were few
happier or more comfortable homes in Ulster. One evening,
about a month after the outbreak, and just as family worship
was concluded, Robert Gordon of Killyleagh arrived with the
alarming tidings of the insurrection and of the murderous
character it had assumed. As may well be imagined, the
night was spent in dread suspense, for they knew not how
soon the enemy might be upon them. The morning dawned,
and the day passed away, but all remained quiet. As the
evening again darkened around them a terrible thunder-storm
swept over their dwelling, and, as it slightly abated, the
sound of hurried footsteps was heard approaching the door.
*• Flee, fiee," exclaimed Walter Stewart, a friend and neigh-
bour, as he entered ; " the foot of the murderer is abroad."
In haste and dread, they fled from the house and sought
refuge in a.n ad' cent wood. Scarcely had they found con-
THE miSH MESSACRE OF IC41. 107
cealment within its tliickets, when the lond execrations of a
tiendisli and forocions band of battled and disappointed
insni'gents full npon tlieir ears. As they looked ont stealth-
ily from their liiding place towards the home from which
they had fled in terror and aUirm only a few minutes ago,
they saw barn and byre wrai)ped in flames ; they saw also,
to tlieir infinite relief, the blood thirsty bandits moving oft
in the opi)osite direction. The flames soon reduced barn and
byre to ashes, but, the wind changing suddenly, their dwell-
ing-house was happily saved. About midnight, the fury of
the elements subsided, and the following morning was calm
and fair. However, the fugitives deemed it prudent still to
court the shelter of tnoir hiding place ; and it was not till
the next day that Walter Stewart left their retreat to obtain
a view of the surrounding country. Ascending a hill which
commanded an extensive [)rospect, far as his eye could reach
not a human being was to be seen, not one even of the usual
indications of busy life. The opi)ressive silence was broken
only by the lowing of houseless cattle that ranged the
fields and woods for pasture. Early next morning he set
out to make a wider survey, and proceeded southwards in
the direction of Killyleagh. He had gone only a few miles
when, in passing along the edge of a deep wood, he was
startled by the wail of an infant and a slight rustling among
the brushwood. Turning his gaze in the direction from
which the sounds j)roceeded, he perceived a female form
struggling among the briars with a babe on her bosom and a
boy by her side. In the miserable plight in which he found
the helpless wanderers — with faces lacerated by the prickly
briars, and swollen with cold, and with eyes bloodshot — he
failed at first to recognize them, though he knew them
well. His presence awoke their worst fears, but when they
speedily discovered who he was, their fears gave way to
joy and gladness, and they willingly accompanied him back
to Ballybreagh,
108 PRKSBYTKRIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
The 8tory of tl)0 lonely waiuhiicMs is soon toUl. The
family of Robert Knox, of liellashejin, had risen, as was
their wont, in the early morning, to pursue their daily toil.
Whilst the day was yet young, little Henry, the youngest
of tlie family, was despatehed on an errand to Killyleagh, a
town which lay in the immediate neighbourhood. Dnring
his absence, a band of ruthless insurgents, armed with blud-
geons, pitchforks and knives, suddenly rushed upon them,
and murdered them in cold blood. When young Henry, who
was now the sole surviving member of the family, returned,
the fii-st sight that attracted his attention, as he entered the
bawn was the mangled carcass of his favourite little dog
Rover. Suspecting from this painful spectacle that something
unsi)eakably more dreadful had happened, he rushed into the
house and called for his mother, but no answer came ; that
mother* loved voice he was never to hear again. Aj)palled
by the i iwonted and ominous silence, broken only by the
ticking of the old clock, he burst into a flood of tears and
frantically called for his father and mother. As he did so,
Margaret Hunter, an aunt, who had fled from her own home,
entered, and, as she entered, he ran to her, and clung to her
with passionate earnestness. Proceeding together, they
opened the door of the parlour ; there lay, piled in a heap,
the mangled remains of father and mother, brother and
sister, the blood still warm and unclotted.
It was no time to indulge in idle grief. The aunt hastily
put a little oatmeal into the corner of her plaid, and, with
her babe hugged close to her bosom and Henry by her
side, hurriedly fled from the appalling scene of butchery and
blood. She had not gone far till she was alarmed by the
sound of voices in a neighbouring wood. Eagerly looking
around for a friendly shelter she saw a bridge at a little
distg^nce which seemed to offer a gafe refuge. Hurrying for-
TIIK HUSH MASSACIRK OF' 1041. 109
ward with all tlio speed tha^ hor sti'eii;^t)j and Imrdoii por-
mittod sho soon found concciulmnnt btMiciatli its arcli. Nono
too soon did sho reach the friendly r<^treat. Hardly had she
passed nnder the arcluHl covering when the sound of foot
steps was lieard overhead. For three (hiys the fugitivea
remained in this strange h (ling-i)lace with nothing to relieve
the pangs of hung<;r hut a little oatmeal moistened hy cold
water from the stream spanned hy the bridge that sheltered
them. At last, apprehensive that they must i)erish of cold
and hunger if they remained nmch longer where they were,
committing theuiscilves to the cai-e of Him who had almost
miraculously protected them so far, they left their hiding
place, wandering they hardly knew whither, their only food
the red berry from the briar and the witheied haw from tlie
thorn. It was on the third day of their lonely wandering
that Walter Stewart met them.
The number of Protestants that were killed during this
terib'le outbreak of fiendish fanaticism has been variously
estimated. According to the inost reliable computation,
40,000 perished by violence within the first year of the
rebelli-^n. Some accounts increase the number tive-fold.
O'Mahony, an Irish Jesuit, in a work published in 1G45,
states that his party had then cut oft' 150,000 heretics. Sir
Phelim O'Neill reported that he killed 600 English at
Garvagh, in the County of Derry, and that he had left
neither man, woman, nor child alive, in the barony of
Munterloney, in County Tyrone. Barbarity so fearfully
atrocious in its nature was quite in keeping with the char-
acter of the man who declared that " he would never leave
off the work he had begun till mass should be sung or said
in every church in Ireland, and that a Protestant should not
live in Ireland, be he of what nation he would." To state,
however, the number of those who were actually killed is
•only to state half the truth. Many, who were driven from
110 PKESBYTKKIAN ClIUKOH IN IHKLAND.
thnir liomos, sind comjxilled to aeok such slidtor us tlicy
could find in tlu; ojK^n fields, pciishcd of (rold and liung«'r.
A still liir;^(M- nunil)t;r diod of a pcstihince occ;i.sion«'il by tluj
refusal of tli« ndxds in many parts to bury the manghid
remains of the victims of their fury, and yet more by tlu^
crowding into the towns still held liy the Protestants of
multitudes for whom neither suitable accommcxlation nor
suflicient food was nvailabh;. An account of the ravages of
this fatal disease, written at th(? time and still preserved,
states that *' in Coleraint; there di(Hl in four months, by com-
putation, six thousand ; in Carrickfcu'gus, two thousan<l five
hundred ; in Belfast and Malone, about two thousand ; and
in Antrim and other places a proportionable number."
The massacre was truly appalling. The brief account
of it that we have given furnishes but a faint outline
of the dread reality. It seems to transport us to far off
eastern lands, whose inhabitants, in far ofi' tiuKis, in the wild
insatiable ferocity of a nature that knew nothing of the
transforming influences of the gospel or of modern civiliza-
tion, were wont to luxuriate with fiendish joy in the indis-
criminate slaughter of their foes. It is hardly to be won-
dered at that Romish writei-s, in more recent times, have
sought to relieve their Church from the odium inseparable
from a crime of so atrocious a haracter. Some of them
have not hesitated to pronounce the massacre a myth, in-
vented by Protestant writers for the [)urpose of casting
discredit upon the Church of Rome. Others have sought to
minimize its proportions, and to cast a veil over its hideous
and revolting features by re[)resenting it, in so far as it may
be said to have existed, as the just and inevitable retaliation
of an innocent and inoflensive peo})le upon vindictive and
blood-thirsty Protestants who were the first to commence the
bloody work. But nothing can exceed the impudence and
eflfrontery of such attempts. Evidence of the most reliable
THK nUSll MASSACllE OF lG4l. Ill
charactor exists in ovorwlioliiiiiig almiulanco to prove tl»e
reality of it/8 occunciice. Shortly after the rebellion had
been successfully repressed, Pariiaineut ap[)oiiit<Ml coiuniiH-
sioiiei*s to make a searching cn(piiry into the insurrection ; a
great number of witnesses were examined on oath; thirty-
two volumes of the dfjpositious thus taken still exist in the
Library of Trinity College, Dublin, which place it beyond
a doubt that the nuissacre was an unprovoked outburst of
the jM^rsecuting si)irit of Romanism, and yield silent yet
irrefutable testimony to the reality of its worst horrors.
It cannot be d(niied that the Protestants sometim(\s re-
taliated with unnecessary and cruel severity upon their blood-
thirsty enemies. It would have been exceedingly strange
if they had not done so. When the Romanists had declared
that they would be satisfied with nothing short of their utter
extirpation, and when they had shown that the declaration
was not meant to be an idle threat by murdering thousands
in cold blood, sparing neither tender women nor helpless
infants, it is not to be wondered at that the spirit of revenge
sometimes rose to the ascendant, overriding all the better
feelings of their nature, and hurrying them into deeds that
cannot be defended. An instance of the kind claims special
notice, because it has been adduced again and again by Roraish
writers to prove that the Protestants were the tirat aggressoi-s.
" On the morning of Monday, the 3rd of January, 1642,
a party of Irish rebels, from both sides of the river Bann,
headed by Alaster McColl McDonnell, surprised a detachment
of the British stationed at Portna, near Kilrea, under the com-
mand of Captains Fergus, McDougall, Peebles, and Glover,
and massacred between sixty and eighty of them in their beds.
From this place, they crossed the river Bann and marched
through the extensive district of the Route, with fire and
sword, murdering men, women and children of the British,
all along in their march to Ballintoy. Thence they proceeded
\\'2 PKKHHYTKHIAN eHCKCH IN IKKl.AND.
to Oldstoiic f'iistlo. iH'.ir (/loui^li, uliicli was Hun'on<ioro(l to
tlioiii by Mr. K«'tiiii'(ly, on tlim-sdiy, upon tlic h dt'iim as-
HuniDee of McDoniirll, (luit ' noiio in tlx? |»liu!«? should sulF«'r
in body or goods.' Yet, iiotwitlistiindiui,' this assuiuiico,
about twenty wonuMi, witu cliildren upon tlicir backs and
in their hands, wei-e knock(!<i (h)wn and nuu'dercd uiuh'r the
CHHth) wall, and about tiiree score ol<l men, women, and cinl-
dren, who had license to ^o to Lairie or (.'arrickferj,Mis, were
that day or the next, nnird(!red liy tlu! O'llara's party,
within a mile and a-half of the said castle."
It was not in the nature of things that such outiagc^s, in
which cruelty and perlidy wei'«i alike coniMiiui^ded, should be
allowed to go unavenged. The betrayed and exas[)erated
Protestants would liave betui more than men if tlu^y liad not
been ready to retaliate. It is not sur[)rising, therefore, to learn
tiiat, six days after, a numlxu* of thcira, a(!Coui|)anied by a few
soldiers, proceeded to a place called Island Magee, near Car-
rickfergus, in the County of Antrim, occupied largely by
Romanists, and slew about thirty of them in revenge. Though
all the facts of this outrage have been preserved and can 1)6
traced with absolute certainty, liomish writers have had the
effrontery to phice the date of its occurience in the {)revious
November, and to magnify the number slain into three thou-
sand. By such barefaced and unblushing falsehoods, they have
attempted to fasten upon tlie Protestants the guilt of having
commenced a massacre. " Thirty persons put to death in
January, 1642, when the cries of perishing men and women
were going up from every corner in Ulster, have been
converted into three thousand in the begining of November,
and the crimes of the Irish represented as the self-defence of
innocent victims defending themselves against unprovoked
assassination. When will the Irish Catholics, when will the
Roman Catholics learn that wounds will never heal which
are skinned with lying ? Not till they have done pennance,
THK lUISII MASSAfRK OF 1 H . 113
all of thotn hy fninlc confosaloii and Initnilintiun — the Irisli
for crimes in tluur own islind — the Catholics j;(Mi(!nilly for
their yet gri'at«!r crimes thioupout the world — can the past
lie f()r<^ott<!n, and tiieir lawful claims on the conscience of
mankind he ecpiitahly considered."
The Komish priesthood were the life and soul of this
memorable rebel Hem. They gave it birth. They cradled it
in its infancy. They watched over it with parental solici-
tude during all the years of its progi-ess, till it finally expired
amid the tears and groans of a deluded and despairing
j>eoj)lo. For the revolting scenes of butchery and blood that
have left an indelible stain of infamy upon all who took
l>art in it they were largely responsible. At a meeting in
tlie abbey of Multifernan, West Meath, held about a fort-
night before the outbreak, some of them who were present
(lid not hesitate to urge a general massacre tus the safest and
most effectual method of putting down Protestant atoend-
ancy ; and, though the inhuman proposal was not formally
adopted, as the event proved, it was the guiding principle of
the movement from its commencement to its close. Evor
McMahon, the Romish bishop of Down and Connor,
j)rompted Sir Phelim O'Neill to many of the worst of the
atrocities that stain the memory of that ferocious leader ;
the ruthless hordes that were the actual perpetrators of the
bloody deeds that were exultingly committed, before going
forth on their merciless errand were commonly anointed
by their priests, who assured them that if they should fall
in so glorious an undertaking they would certainly escape
purgatory and go directly to heaven. That they might
engage in the work of murder and devastation with the
energy that springs from a sense of duty, they were told
that the Protestants were worse than dogs and served the
devil and that the killing of them was a meritorious act.
The memory of the massacre of 1641 can never be erased
8
114 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
from the minds of the Protestant popiihition of Ulster. By
many a fireside tales still continue to be told of awful
scenes in that dread day of agony and blood. The event fur-
nishes, to some extent, the explanation of the stern resist-
ance which, in common with the Protestants of the other
provinces, they continue to offer to the Home rule move-
ment. They do not forget that it is the proud boast of
Rome that she never changes, and are persuaded that, had
she the power, she would not hesitate to renew those terri-
ble atrocities that reddened the plains of Ulster with the
blood of thousands of the best of its people two centuries
and a-half ago. Who can blame them, if, regarding Home
rule, disguised as i'c may be by its advocates, as just another
name for Romish ascendancy in Ireland, they resolutely
decline to place their lives and properties, their liberties
and religion at the mercy of a church that has never yet
uttered one word of repentance for the infamous crimes
against humanity and religion that crowd her history, and
that still claims the right to employ force in compelling
submission to her supremacy 'i
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, during this dark and
troublous period, presented the melancholy spectacle of a
temple in ruins. It was only in a few places that public
ordinances could be observed. Most of the clergy had fled
to Scotland, and those who had escaped the general slaughter,
and still remained in the country, took refuge in the towns
that were still in the hands of the Protestants. The churches,
which had not been seized by the Romanists, were garrisoned
and converted into places of refuge. The temple, however,
though in ruins, was far from being utterly destroyed. The
people who survived the wide-spread desolation had lost
nothing of their ancient attachment to their beloved Zion.
The very efforts of her enemies to effect her extermination
had only served to gather their affections more closely around
THE IRISH MASSACRE OF 1641. 115
her. The fidelity with which they clung to lier communion,
during the persecutions of Wentworth's administration, was
still in healthful and vigorous activity. Better days were
at hand, though the clouds were not all to be rolled
away. The dismantled temple was soon to rise from its
ruins, presenting proportions grander and more imposing
than any that had yet marked its history. As we shall
see in the following chapter, Scotland was not unmind-
ful of her children in Ireland in the time of their great
calamity, and with her timely intervention the day of their
deliverance dawned.
116 PKESBYTEKIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OF HER RUINS.
The Colonists unprepared for Defence — Join tourether for mutual protection — The
Lords-Justices, the Kin^, and the E iglish parliament interfere — EflFective help
from Scotland — Arrival of Scottish forces — Ulster restored in part to peace -
Episcopal Church almost extin<;uished — Presbyterian Church restored in
added strength^First Presbytery — Open rupture between Charles and the
Commons — Scotland gives aid to the Parliamentary party — The Westminster
Assembly— The Covenant— The Presbyterian, now virtually the Established
Church in Ulster- The rebellion renewed under Owen Roe O'Neil— The Kil-
kenny Council — The King assisted — The aid injurious rather than otherwise —
Execution of the King— Cromwell— The Church again in trouble— Sunshine
restored.
*HE long term of unbroken peace that preceeded the
outbreak that was now spreading disaster and devas-
tation throughout the Province of Ulster had lulled
the colonists into fatal security. Diligently plying
the pursuits of peaceful industry from day to day, they never
for a moment imagined that their Roman Catholic neighbours,
with whom they were continually exchanging the ordinary
courtesies of life, were united in a secret conspiracy for their
utter extermination. Accordingly, when the rebellion broke
out, it found them altogether unpre[)ared for defence. It
was not, however, to be expected that brave men would allow
their lives to be sacrificed without a struggle, or permit
those whose lives were dear to them as their own to fall
helplessly into the hands of a ruthless multitude, who, dis-
regarding all the ties that are wont to unite men in close
sympathy, were daily filling the land with blood, sparing
neither nearest neighbour, nor most intimate acquaintance,
nor most confiding friend ; no, not even their own kindred,
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OP THE RUINS. 117
if they happened to combine the profession of the Protestant
religion with loyalty to the Eiiglisli crown. In several
places they gathered together for mutual protection, and
vigorously and successfully repelled the attacks of their
assailants. For a time they were placed at a very serious
disadvantage. Two years before, as already recorded, they
had been disarmed by Strafford, and, with few excep-
tions, it was with arms ot the rudest description that they
were compelled to encounter the treacherous and savage
hordes who, for years, had been secretly preparing for the
havoc in which they were now exultingly indulging. No
disparity in numbers, however, nor inferiority of appoint-
ments, ever temj)ted them to turn their backs to their foes ;
and, if they sometimes, in the flush of victory, sullied their
prowess by deeds of cruelty, it must not be forgotten that
they could not fail to be exas})erated beyond measure by
the remembrance of the inhuman butcheries that had stained
the progress of the rebellion from its first commencement,
and that may be fairly held to have placed their enemies
beyond the ordinary usages of warfare. It is a fair pre-
sumption that they were, to some extent at least, nerved
for the conflict that was suddenly and unexpectedly thrust
upon them, by the knowledge and assurance that they would
not be long left to bear the unequal struggle alone.
The Lords- Justices, who were charged with the govern-
ment of the country, were not in a position to render them
effective assistance. The time for a standing army had not
yet come in the history of England, and they had no avail-
able force at hand that they could at once send to their aid.
They did, however, all that it was in their power to do. As
soon as they had provided for the security of the metropolis,
they despatched intelligence of the outbreak to the King, who
was at Edinburgh at the time, and to the houses of Parlia-
ment in London. They also sent commissions to leading
118 l>RESBYTfittlAN CHURCH IN IIIKLAND.
gentlemen in the county of Antiim, empowering them to
take the command of all tlie forces in the county, and
urging them, in common with all other loyal subjects of
the crown, to use their best endeavours for the sui)pres-
sion of the rebellion. The King, as soon as he received
the intelligence transmitted by the Lords-Justices, sent
a despatch, assuring the colonists of speedy and efficient
support, and soon after forwarded commissions to lead-
ing gentlemen in the counties of Derry, Down, and
Donegal, authorizing them to enlist regiments for the
defence of the kingdom. These gentlemen lost no time
in acting upon the commissions with which they were
entrusted, and so forward were the colonists to enrol the "Q-
selves in the different regiments they were empowered to
raise that within a short time tlioy were aUe to bring into
the field a considerable force, both of foot c..id horse, which,
if wanting in the training and equipments of a regular army,
was certain to give a good account of itself in the day of
trial, if enthusiasm and valour were to count for anything
in the shock of battle.
For six months after the outbreak the colonists had to
bear the brunt of the rebellion all alone ; yet, such were
the skill and courage they brought to the conflict with
their savage assailants that had they been compelled
to depend entirely upon themselves there can hardly be
a doubt that they would have ultimately come off more
than conquerors. In every important encounter they were
able to assert their superiority ; and, deriving renewed
courage and confidence from every fresh achievement, they
became at last almost irresistible.
It was not fitting, however, that they should be left to
carry on the conflict unaided. They were fighting for more
than their lives and the lives of others united to them by
the closest and tenderest ties. The question to be decided
The chorcii rising out of* the ruins. 119
WHS, not merely wliether they and their loved ones should
live or die, but whether the English rule and the Pro-
testant religion should be preserved in Ireland. This was
a question of Imperial interest, and it was only proper
that the whole power of the empire, if need were,
should be brought to its solution. Unhappily, England,
at the time, was not in a position to intervene with speedy
and effective support. The national authorities were ar-
rayed in bitter antagonism against each other and unable to
act in concert. Tlie King, supported by a large body of the
higher classes and by the prelates and clergy of the Estab-
lisiied Church, was endeavouring to reduce the parliament
to unqualified submission to his will, and the parliament
was no less strenuous in its efforts to maintain the laws and
the liberties of the country in opposition to the royal pre-
rogative. The jealousies that separated the two contending
parties grew as time wore on, and ere long eventu-
ated in civil war. Both parties professed to be desirous
of extending help to the struggling colonists. Whether
the King was sincere may be doubted. He had little love
for the colonists, for he knew that their sym})athies were
entirely with the Commons. It has even been said that he
had secretly lent encouragement to the conspiracy that
resulted in the insurrection with which they were now com-
pelled to contend, in the hope that thereby he would ulti-
mately obtain control of the resources of the entire kingdom,
and be thus placed in possession of an effective instrument for
reducing the obnoxious parliament to submissive obedience.
But whatever may have been the views and designs of the
King, there can be no doubt that the Commons anxiously de-
sired to assist the colonists. As soon as they received intelli-
gence of the outbreak, they voted a liberal supply of money
and a considerable body of men for the relief of Ireland; but
as it became increasingly evident that their opposition to the
120 PRESBYTERIAN CUURCII IN IRELAND.
arbitrary measures of tlie King would speedily ri])en into an
open rupture, they liesitated to impair theii' strength for the
coming conflict by detaching a large force for the reduction
of the Irish rebels. At this juncture, Scotland interpo.sed
with effective lielp. The people of that country were in deep
sympathy with their English brethren in their resistance of
the royal encroachments. They themselves had but recently
passed through a similar conflict, and happily had won a
bloodless triumph. They were in still deeper sympathy
with the Ulster colonists who were of their own flesh
and blow]. Five days after its commencement, the Scot-
tish parliament, then in session, was informed of the out-
break. The unexpected intelligence awoke the deepest
concern, and when it was followed two or three days after
by fuller and more accui-ate information, they promptly
offered three thousand stand of arms and ten thousand men
for the relief of Ireland ; but, as it was necessary that Eng-
land should be a consenting party to the arrangement, the
necessary negotiations to this effect were immediately set on
foot. These negotiations, unhappily, were delayed by the
jealousies that existed between the King and the Com-
mons; and it was not till the following February that
they were finally completed. Though great exertions were
made to raisei and embody the large force that the
Scottish parliament had undertak n to provide, it was
the middle of the following April before the first detach-
ment, to the number of two thousand five hundred men,
under the command of Major-General Robert Munro, an
officer of much experience and skill, reached Carrick-
fergus, and, according to the terms of the stipulated agree-
ment, were put in possession of the town and castle.
The Scottish General lost no time in entering upon the
work before him. Joined by several militia regiments of
Antrim and Down, which raised his army to an effec-
TIIR CIIUIICII lUSINn OUT OF TIlK RIMNS. 121
tive force of at least tliree tliousand five Inindretl men,
and eight troo{)S of horse, ho proceeded in seardi of the
rebels, condiictinjcf the campaign with such energy •••nd suc-
cess that, by the middle of the following July, their power
was effectually broken, and the j)rovince, in a large measure,
restored to tran(piility. It was not, however, till ten years
after the outbreak that the rebellion, which extended to the
whole of Ireland thougli it found its woi*st development in
Ulster, struck as if with a thunderbolt by the strong arm
of Cromwell, finally expired in a deluge of blood.
The outbreak was disastrous in the extreme to the Episco-
p:d Church, It swept her almost entirely out of existence.
Many of her clergy were brutally murdered, and of those
who were living when peace was partially restored, only a
few and not one of the prelates remained in the province.
After the execution of Charles, public service according to
the Episcopal ritual entirely ceased, and in all those parts of
the kingdom where the Irish dis[)laced the English power,
the prelates of the Establishment were ejected from their
Sees, and their splendid palaces and lordly revenues appro-
priated by Romish bishops.
On the contrary, the Presbyterian Church emerged
from the storm stronger and more stable than ever. For
about the first thirty years in her history she formed a
part of the Establishment, which, though nominally Episco-
pal, permitted Iier ministers and peo[)le the use of her
worship and polity. During Strafford's administration she
was almost altogether extinguished. Her public services
were interdicted, her ministers were silenced, and her [)eople
required, under heavy penalties, to conform to Episcopacy.
During that dark and disastrous period her adherents never
swerved from their allegiance to her principles and usages,
and now that after a })eriod of still greater trial they were
again at liberty to worship according to her simple forms, with
\2'2 PRESnvtRRtAN rilURClt tX lUEtAND.
a loyality tliat luul lost none of its old fervour they joyfully
gathered around her banner anew. From the commencement
of the plantation, they had al ways formed the majority of the
Protestant {)Opulation of the province, but now their numVjer
was greatly incr(;ased by accessions to their ranks of many
Episcopaliins, some of whom had never been sincerely at-
tached to prelacy, and others of whom, whilst Episcopalian
in principle, were alienated from their church v.hen they
beheld her bishops and higher clergy in England joining with
a despot King in trampling under foot the liberties of the king-
dom, as well as by the i-eturn from Scotland of many who,
during the last four years, had fled to their native land to
escape from the dangers of tlie times In these circumstances
the Presbyterian Church felt encouraged to assume a more
distinctly separate existence as the Protestant Church in
Ulster. The opportune arrival of the Scottish forces put
into her hands the means of effecting the necessary organiza-
tion, and from this time till the Restoration she was virtually
the Established Church of the Province.
According to the wise and salutary practice of the church
and nation of Scotland at this period, most of the regiments
that composed the Scottish army that had been sent over
for the relief of Ireland were accompanied by chaplains, wiio
were ordained ministers of the national church, and firmly
attached to her doctrine and discipline, worship and polity.
These ministers, when the i)acification of the province had
been in a great measure effected, and when the army had
settled in quarters at Carrickfergus, proceeded, with the
concurrence of the General and of the several Colonels to
select from among the officers men of intelligence and piety
to act as ruling elders in each of ihe regiments to which
they were attached. Having erected sessions in four of
the regiments, they took a step further in the process of
organization, and formed the four sessions into a presbyteiy
according to the discipline of the Church of Scotland.
THK CHURCH RISING OUT OF THK RUIN'S. 123
The first meeting of the newly orfranized body, Tnemorable
as tlie first legnhiHy constituted pi-eshytcry hehl in Indand,
took place at Carricic Fergus, on P^'iday, the lOtli day of
June, lGt2, and was attended by five ministers and four
I'uling eldeis. The names of the ministers were Hugh Cun-
ningham, Thomas Peebles. John Baird, John Scott, and John
Aird. Two others, John Livingston and James Simpson,
being elsewhere on duty, wove unable to be present. All
these ministers, with the exception of Aird and Scott, were
subsequently settled in congregations in Ulster. According
to previous appointment, Mr. Baird preached on the latter
part of the 51st Psalm, " Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion ; build thou the walls of Jerusalem." Following
Presbyterian usage, a moderator and clerk were a[)pointed,
and thus the foundations were laid of a duly organized
Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which, throughout all the
vicissitudes of its eventful history, has proved an unspeak-
able blessing to that country, and, at this hour, is ren-
dering inestimable service to the cause of truth all the world
over. Before separating, the newly-oi'ganized court agreed
to meet weekly, at least for a time, each meeting to be
opened with a sermon by one of the brethren.
The step now taken proved to be a most auspicious
occurrence. It soon became evident that the Presby-
terian people of Ulster had lost none of their ancient
attachment to the church of their fathers. As the newly-
formed presbytery met from time to time, there came
urgent ai)})lications from different adjacent parishes to be
received under its care, and to be supplied with Presby-
terian ordinances. These applications were all cordially
entertained, and in a short time seven congregations were
organized in the County of Antiim and eight in the County
of Down. It was easier, however, to organize congregations
than to supply them with settled pastors. Kxcept the army
124 PRESnVTRUIAV rillTlUMI IN lUELAN'O.
chaplains, thoi-o was hardly a Presbyterian niinistor in the
province. Of the goodly hand who had lahoured in the
field before Went worth's policy and the rebellion had
unitedly laid the church in ruins, some had died, some had
perished in the general destruction, and others were now
ministering in parishes in their native land. To meet the
pressing and growing want application was made to the
I)arent church, and the Ueneral Assembly, unal>le to comply
with the application, resorted to the exi)edient of sending
over annually several of its members to labour for a
few months in Ireland. By this judicious arrangement
the church in Ulster rajudly revived, and " broke forth
on the right hand and on the left." Additional con-
gregations continued to bo organized ; the deserted churches
were once more crowded with earnest worshippers ; the
people, recalled from their bondage and restored to their
religious privileges, truly " came to Zion with songs
and joy upon their heads." Several of the Ej)iscopal
clergy, wlio had survived the ravages of the rebellion,
continued to perform divine worship according to the Com-
mon Prayer ; but many of them sought connection with the
Presbytery, and, on professing repentance for their former
courses, especially in relation to the black oath, and in sub-
mission to prelacy, were received into communion.
About two months after the establishment of the Presby-
tery at Carrickfergus the quarrel between Charles and the
Commons issued in open rupture. Both parties made
strenuous efforts to secure the aid and co-operation of Scot-
land. As already recorded, the sympathies of the Scottish
people were almost entirely with the Commons. They
themselves had successfully resisted the royal encroachments,
but they knew that the King had yielded to their claims
under the pressure of necessity, and had too much reason to
fear that the concessions they had obtained would be speedily
TIIK cnUKClI RISING OUT OK TlIK ItUINS. 125
r(iv()k<'(J, if lio sliould succeeil in his contest with tlie Com-
mons. Since tlien, j^reut cliiin^es had taken place in eccle-
siastical avail's in Fintjlaml. Parliament had proceodiid to
i-emo<lel the Estahiisluxl Chnrch, and had shown a very
decided leaning towards Presbytery. They had dejjrived
the l)ishoi)S of their seats in the House of Ijords ; they had
abolished prelacy ; they had Hnmmoned an Assembly of
divines to lueet at Westminster, to consult as to " the set-
ting such a government in the church as may bo agreeable
to God's Holy Word, and to bring it into nearer agreement
with the Church of Scotland, and the other Reformed
churches abroad."
This celebrated Assembly, though prohibited by a royal
proclamation, met in Henry VII. 's Chapel, Westminster, on
the tiret of July, 1643 j but as winter a[)proached, the sit-
tings were h(?ld in the Jerusalem chamber which was more
comfortable. It consisted of one hundred and twenty-one
divines, and thirty lay assessors, but about sixty was the
average daily attendance. A few months after its first
meeting it was joined by six commissioners from the (Jhurch
of Scotland. Only two membei'S connected with Ireland sat
in this Assembly — Dr. Joshua Hoyle, Professor of Divinity
in the Irish University, and Sir John Clatworthy, who at-
tended as a lay assessor. Its sittings numbered one thou-
sand one hundred and sixty-throe in all, and stretched over
a period of five years and a-half. It included in its members
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Independents. The few
Episcopalians who attended withdrew soon after the As-
sembly commenced its sittings ; the Independents counted
in all not more than ten or twelve divines ; the Presby-
terians formed the large majority, and, in consequence, all
the great results of its labours bear a decidedly Presbyterian
stamp. The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Cate-
chisms, Larger and Shorter, and the Directory for public
126 PIlKSnYTEKIAN CHURCH IN IKKLAND.
worship reiimiu iih eii(l(U'ii)<^ inoinoiiiilH of tlio zeal aivl
ability with which this truly (*atholic council ixirformeil th«
work for which it was coiivfued.
Tlie recent ecclesiastical chancres in KnjLjland, as well as
the desire that evidently (existed to procecvi still further in
the work of reformation tended to draw the Scottish |)eoj)le
more closely towards the pai-liainentaiy party, for, thoujjh
they were stron«5ly attacluMl to the reii,'i)in;^ family, they
were not prepared to allow a mistaken loyalty to override
their regard for the interests of religion autl lilxirty. In
harmony with prevailing public stnitiment, and, for the pur-
pose of binding in closer union the true frien<ls of religion
and liberty throughout the whole empire, the Gemu'al As-
sembly framed a bond, known in history as the Solemn
League and Covenant, pledging all who subscribed it " to
labour for the preservation of the reformed religion in Scot-
land, and foi" the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of
England and Ireland in doctrine, worship, discipline and
government, according to the V^ord of God, and the ex-
ample of the best Reformed churches ; to endeavour the
extirpation of popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, and
schism ; to defend the privileges of the parliament, and the
peraonand authority of the King : and reveal all malignants
and incendiaries who should obstruct their purposes." On
the very day on which this famous bond was adopted by
the General Assembly, it passed the Estates of the realm,
then in session at Edinburgh, and the next morning it was
transmitted to both houses of parliament in London, by
whom it was referred to a special committee of their own
members, and of the Westminster divines, then in session,
" to the intent that some expressions might be further ex-
plained, and that the kingdom of Ireland also might be
taken into the same league and covenant.'* '' ^ith tljt^se
TUB CHURCH RISING OUT OP THK RUINS. 127
altcriitioiiH, it whh tiimlly approved by tho ConunoiiH, ami
inoiulay, tlio 251 h day of Siiptoiiiher, was appointed for the
Holoinii 8woiiriii<( of it by tho luoiubirs both of the Parlia-
ment and AHwinbly.
On tiie day appoinUul, a solemn gatherinfjof the Commons
and tho members of tlie A8seml)iy met in St. Margan^t's
Chnrch, Westminster, and, 'ifter prayer and snitable
addresses by emiiK^it divines, tho Covtsnant was read article
by article, " each person standing uncovered, witli his right
hand lifted np to heaven, worsiiipping tiie great name of
God, and swearing to the performance of it. Dr. Gouge
concluded witii a prayer, after whicli the Commons went up
into the chancel, and subscribed their nauu^s in one roll of
parchment, and the Absembly in another, each of which con-
tained a copy of the covenant." On the lOth of October, it
was taken with like solemnity by the Lords, and subse-
(piently in every county in England and Scotland. As the
result of the solemn covenant to which both nations were
thus publicly pledged, the Scottish army, numbering twenty-
one thousand men, under the command of Leslie, the Earl of
Leven, crossed the Tweed at Berwick, throwing the balance
of power into the scale of the parliamentary party, and
placing it soon after in full possession of the government
of the country.
As the Solemn League and Covenant included Ireland in its
provisions, measures were at once taken for its transmission
to that kingdom. Strictly speaking, it had no legal authority
in that country, as it had not received the sanction of the
Irish parliament, yet nowhere did it meet with a more
hearty acceptance than among the Protestant population
of that part of the empire. Of late, they had experienced
in a very high degree the advantages of union and co-
operation. By joining together in one solid column for
mutual defence, they had been abl5 to save themselves from
128 PllESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRKLAND.
utter destruction, and, as the times were still full of danger,
they felt the necessity of continuing to move together shoulder
to shoulder. In the spring of 1644, four ministers, ai)})ointed
by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, arrived
in Ulster, to supply, for a few months, according to an ar-
rangement that was now followed yeaily, the destitute
congregations of the province with the ordinances of religion.
These clergymen were commissioned to preach to their coun-
trymen, and to urge them to enter into the covenant ; and,
as they traversed the country, in the fulfilment of their high
mission, they were everywhere received and welcomed with
the utmost enthusiasm. In Down, Antrim, Derry, Donegal,
Fermanagh — in all places visited, "the people were
eager to subscribe the covenant. If any had scruples or
objections to offer, pains were taken to meet and remove
them, and if they still declined, their refusal exposed them
to no penalty." Even those of the Episcopal clergy who
had as yet stood aloof from the Presbytery were forward to
subscribe. From this time, protestant prelacy can hardly
be said to have had an existence in Ireland. The Liturgy
ceased to be used in public worship and the Directory took
its place as the authorized guide in conducting the regular
services of the church.
The Presbyterian Church in Ulster was now virtually the
Established Church of the province. Her ministers preached
in the parish churches, and received the parochial tithes. "In
October, 1645, the parliament, now supreme in England,
sent over three governors of the province of Ulster, to take
charge of a^airs in the north of Ireland." These gentlemen
recognized her as the State Church, and countenanced and
encouraged her in her work. In these altered circumstances,
she speedily arose out of her ruins, and, like a goodly vine,
shot forth her branches into every corner of the land.
Parishes were remodelled, sessions established, congrega-
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OP THE RUINS. 129
tions supplied with preaching, and sealing ordinances dis-
pensed, so that there could hardly be said to be a place
within her bounds that was entirely destitute of public
worship. In 1647, she could count on her roll nearly thirty
prdained ministers in addition to the chaplains of the Scot-
tish regiments which still garrisoned the province.
The success of the Scottish arms, supported by those of
the colonists, reduced the hopes of the insurgents to the
lowest ebb ; but their hopes revived, when, in July 1642,
Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, whose coming had been for
some time expected, landed safely on the coast of Donegal.
This experienced officer, who had served with distinction in
Spain and Germany, was immediately chosen to the supreme
qottimand, and, under his judicious management, the insur-
gents felt encouraged to renew the attempt in the accom-
plishment of which they had as yet signally failed. For the
purpose of giving increased vigour and the appearance
of legality to the insurrection, a synod, composed of several
bishops and a large number of the inferior clergy, met
in the City of Kilkenny, and declared " the war, openly
Catholic, to be just and lawful." In accordance with
a resolution passed at this meeting, a General Assem-
bly, composed of two sections, one, consisting of prelates
and nobles, and another, of the representatives of counties
and towns, was held at the same city, on the 24th of
October, 1643. Though this assembly never assumed the
name, it exercised all the functions of a parliament. Its
members professed loyalty to the King, but they dis-
owned the authority of the Lords-justices. They ordained
tl^at " the possessions of the Protestant clergy in right
of the church shall be deemed the possessions of the
Catholic clergy." They resolved to commit the manage-
ment of public affairs to a supreme council of twenty-
four, ifnd they adopted "an oath of association," which
130 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
the priesthood- were enjoined to administer to every par-
ishioner under pain of excommunication, binding those
who took it to submit to no peace made without the consent
of the General Assembly, and which did not include, as its
main provision, the restoration of the Romish Church to
the position it occupied in the island in the reign of King
Henry VTI.
One of the first measures of the Kilkenny confederacy
was an offer of substantial aid to the King in his contest
with the parliament. Charles, who had all the while kept
up correspondence with the Irish Romanists in the hope
of obtaining such aid, eagerly accepted the offer. After
much negotiation, a cessation of hostilities between the
royal forces and those of the confederacy was concluded
at Siggintown, near ITaas, on the 15th of September; the
King to receive a subsidy of .£30,000, and the confed-
eracy to retain the churches and ecclesiastical property of
which they had gained possession. This treaty was im-
mediately followed by the transmission to England of
ten regiments as the Irish reinforcement of the royal army.
This aid, however, proved of little service to the king.
With such skill and vigour were the movements of the
parliamentary army conducted that the Irish auxiliaiies
were speedily either killed or captured; whilst the pre-
sence in the country of a force of Irish bandits, who
had taken part in the recent atrocities in Ulster, awoke,
both in England and Scotland, a feeling of more de-
termined and united resistance, led to the early adop-
tion and general acceptance of the Covenant, and thus con-
tributed in no small measure to the speedy and entire
overthrow of the Royalist party. Meanwhile, the arms of
the insurgents in the north met with but little succesii. \
O'Neill was an able and accomplished commander, but,
though he found in the countless hordes that followed his
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OP THE RUINS. 131
staudai'd a marvellous abundance of confident boastings,
he was able to make but little headway against the stei-n,
unyielding, valour of the less numerous but more resolute
forces that opposed his arms. The rebellion was carried
on in the southern provinces with just as little success.
The Protea ~ ts, in this part of the island, were compara-
tively few in number, but they were better prepared for
defence, and, under the leadership of able and skilful com-
manders, were not long in making tlie insurgents feel that
their game was not yet won. When the Royalist cause was
completely overthrown in England, and the last hope of suc-
cess perished with the defeat at Worcester, Prince Rupert,
and thousands of the Cavaliers went over to Ireland, in the
hope of yet saving that kingdom for Charles. Their arrival
lent fresh courage to the insurgents, and, with this valuable
addition to their strength, a few faint gleams of sunshine
shone upon their arms. But their renewed hopes soon sank
in utter darkness. A few weeks later, Cromwell landed,
and, after a series of victories in which the massacre of '41
was terribly avenged, the rebellion was completely suppressed,
and the country restored to tranquillity with the surrender
of Galway, in 1652.
From the time that the Scots crossed the border and
united with the forces of the Long Parliament, it fared ill
with Charles. To enter into a minute detail of the stirring
events of this stormy period falls not within the design of
this work. Suffice it to say that, so far as the unhappy
monarch was concerned, the issue was most disastrous.
His armies suffered repeated discomfitures, and his life
fell a sacrifice to his criminal attempt to overthrow
the liberties of the nation. He was beheaded at White-
hall, on the 30th of January, 1649, "as a traitor to
the country, and as the cause of all the blood that had been
spilt during the late war." At this time, the majority of
132 fRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IS IRELAND.
the pooi)k5 of England wore Presbyterians, and as long as
the Presbyterian element constituted the majority of the
Commons, such an event as the execution of the King
was impossible. They were strongly attached to monarchy,
and anxious only that its powers should be confined within
constitutional limits. It was only when they were violently
driven from the House, and a minority of Independents and
other Sectaries, appropriately styled the Rump Parliament,
had become the ruling power that such a sanguinary pro-
ceeding could find a majority in its favour.
The execution of the King awoke a feeling of indig-
nation among the Presbyterian ])eople of the three
kingdoms, but nowhere did it meet with stronger condemna-
tion than in Ulster. The Presbytery, at a meeting held at
Belfast, just a fortnight after the event, had the boldness to
denounce the regicides as guilty " of overturning the laws
and liberties of the kingdom," of "rooting out all lawful and
supreme magistracy," and of "introducing a fearful con-
fusion and lawless anarchy." " With cruel hands," said
they, " these men have put the King to death — an act so
horrible as no history, divine or human, ever had a prece-
dent to the like." This bold denunciation was published
and the paper containing it was extensively circulated.
It was laid before the remnant of a parliament theji
sitting in London, and was deemed of such conscouence that
no less distinguished a writer than the illustrious Milton
was employed to prepare a reply. It soon obtained a more
serious notice. When Cromwell had reduced Ireland to
subjection to his party, the ministers were required to
subscribe a bond called " The Engagement," pledging all
who signed it to disown the title of Charles II. to the
crown, and to support a government without a King and
a House of Lords. The Presbyterian pastors who conscien-
tiously adhered to the Solemn League and Covenant could not
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OF THK RUINS. 133
possibly sign such a pledge and their refusal exposed them to
the vengeance of the ruling })owers. " They were violently
excluded from their pulpits, their subsistence was withdrawn,
they were in continual danger of being apprehended or im-
prisoned ; and at a council of war held at Carrickfergus in
March, 1651, .... a formal act of banishment from the
kingdom was passed against them." Many of them now
returned to Scotland, and one of the few who remained has
left on record the privations endured by himself and brethren.
'' Those that stayed in the country," says he, " though they
could not exercise their ministry orderly as formerly, and
though their stipends were sequestered, yet, changing their
apparel to the habit of countrymen, they travelled into their
own parishes frequently, and sometimes in other places,
taking what opportunity they could to preach in the fields,
or in the barns and glens ; and were seldom in their own
houses. They persuaded the people to constancy in the
received doctrines, in opposition, to the wild heresies which
were then spreading, and reminding them of their duty to
their lawful magistrates, the King and Parliament, in oppo-
sition to the U8ur[)ation of the times, and in their (public),
prayei-s always mentioning the lawful magistrate." The
party now in the ascendant proc(!eded to yet further ex-
tremities. Unable to silence the Presbyterian clergy alto-
gether, they resolved on another expedient which they
hoped would prove successful. They proposed to banish the
leading Presbyterians of Antrim and Down to Munster, and
a proclamation to this effect was actually issued. But before
it could be carried into execution, their counsels underwent a
marvellous change. Cromwell, finding his power so increased
that he could ^ct with more independence, and learning that
tha Irish Presbyterian clergy were pious and inoffensive —
wholly devoted to their ministerial duties, and little likely to
disturb his government — took them into his favour, and
134 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
granted them an ample allowance from the State, which
continued to be paid till the Restoration.
A new era of peace and pros[)erity now dawned upon the
church. Passing beyond the bounds of Antrim, Derry and
Down, she planted her battlements firmly in Armagh, Fer-
managh, Cavan, Tyrone and Monaghan. Old congregations
were revived, new congregations were established. In 1653,
she could count only twenty-four ministers on her roll ; at
the Restoration the number had increased to seventy, having
under their charge nearly eighty parishes or congregations,
comprising a population of probably not far from one hun-
dred thousand souls. " These ministers wore associated in
five Presbyteries which held monthly meetings, and annual
visitations of all the churches within their bounds, and
which were subordinate to a general Presbytery or Synod
that ordinarily met four times in each year." Entire con-
formity with the mother Church of Scotland was strictly
maintained. No candidate for the ministry was ordained
until the Presbytery had received ample proof of his literary
attainments, religious character, and theological views. He
was also required, before ordination, to take the Solemn
League and Covenant, and to declare his approval and accept-
ance of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Catechisms,
and the Directory. Ministers were settled solely on the call
of their respective parishes, and legal bonds for their mainten-
ance out of the tithes were executed by the landed proprietors.
Strict discipline was exercised by Sessions and Presbyteries ;
ministerial visitation from house to house was diligently
maintained, and catechetical instruction of all classes,
especially of the young, was carefully observed.
The objects of the rebellion of 1641 and of the ten years'
war that followed have been already stated. The Romish
clergy, who liad much to do with framing and directing the
movement, hoped to see, as the issue, Protestantism ex-
THE CHURCH RISING OUT OF THE RUINS. 135
terminated, the Irish soil in exclusive possession of Roman-
ists, and the papacy restored to the supremacy it held before
the Reformation But these hopes were bitterly disap-
I)ointed. No movement in Ireland has ever been !nore
disastrous to their cause. When it was brought to a final
close, one half of the Romish population of the country,
including a large number of the priesthood, had perished
miserably, scarcely the third of the land of Ireland remained,
in the hands of Catholics, the Romish religion was pi'o-
scribed as unworthy of toleration, and Protestantism was
planted more firmly in the island than ever.
But if the war begun in 1641 was most disastrous to the
interests of Romanism in Ireland, it ultimately issued in
confemng important benefits on Ireland itself Under the
Protectorate, the country attained to such prosperity as it
had never known before. Home Rule, for which Irish
Romanists are now so clamant, was entirely discarded.
Ireland was identified with England and made a participant
in every advantage that England possessed. Her separate
parliament was swept away ; her representatives went to
Westminster ; and one united parliament legislated for
both countries. Law was vigorously enforced ; order was
sternly maintained, the industrial resources of the country,
under wise and judicious arrangements, were carefully
developed. Had the same policy been puisued in the suc-
ceeding reign with the same vigorous energy, the lines of
diflference in the social condition of the two countries would
have been obliterated generations ago, and Ireland would
have been to-day as peaceable and prosperous as her larger
and richer neighbour.
136 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER VIII.
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTERNATING.
Death of Cromwell— Succeeded by Richard his son— The Restoration— The Bishops
and renewed persecution— rejection of Presbyterian ministers— The Blood
Plot— Chan>,'e in the Government's policy- Grant to Presbyterian ministers-
Renewed hostility of the Government— The Laj^an Presbytery— Churches
closed— Emigration to America.
CROMWELL died in 1658 on what he was wont to
speak of as liis lucky day, the 3rd of September.
Richard, his eldest son, succeeded him in the Protec-
torate without opposition, but it soon became mani-
fest that the hands of the son were too feeble to hold the reins
that; had dropped from the iron grasp of the father. He
occupied the exalted position that, in the strange evolution
of events, he had reached, for but a short period. Had he
possessed the commanding genius and unconquerable energy
that peculiarly distinguished his father, it is highly pr'obable
that his Protectorate would have ended only with his death,
and that, in consequence, the subsequent civil and ecclesi-
astical history of Great Britain and Ireland would hdve
borne a very different aspect, in regard to the peculiar
features of which it is useless to speculate. He died in the
year 1712, when three of the Sovereigns that came alter
him had gone down to their graves, and the reign of the
fourth was nearing its close.
Presbyterianism has been often described by its enemies
as unfriendly to monarchy. " No bishop, no king" is their
cry. Historically, the allegation has not a foot to stand pn.
When Charles was sentenced to be beheaded, the only State
in Europe that was forward to utter a word of protest
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTERNATING. 137
against his execution, was tlie Presbyterian Republic of the
United Provinces, and their protest was ably seconded by a
vio^orous remonstrance signed by fifty-seven ministers of the
Provincial Synod of London, as well as by the strongly ex-
pressed disapproval of the Presbyterian people of the three
kingdoms. Wlien the Protectorate had spent its short-
lived existence, and monarchy was restored, it was by
Presbyterian influence mainly that the change was effected.
Charles II. was restored to the throne in 1660. Though
the Presbyterian people of Scotland and Ireland took a
leading part in the event, both alike met with an ill
requittal at the hands of the ungrateful and perfidious
monarch. Handy had he been seated on the throne when,
in direct violation of promises and engagements often made,
he took steps that tended to the utter subversion of
everything they were accustomed to hold in deepest
veneration. Three months after he was proclaimed King,
he proceeded to re-establish Protestant Episcopacy in
Ireland. Eight of the former bishops were still living, and
the Sees that were vacant were filled by fresh appoint-
ments. Bramhall, the bitter and inveterate opponent of
the Presbyterians, was promoted to the primacy, and the
celebrated Jeremy Taylor was made Bishop of Down and
Connor. Many of the leading men who had been ardent
sup[)orters of the Protectorate, and not a few who had
pledged themselves by oath to adhere to the Solemn League
and Covenant, now became flaming Royalists and high-flying
Episcopalians. Not content with accepting prelacy for
themselves, they eagerly countenanced and encouraged all
the arbitrary measures of the Government for enforcing it
upon others. By such means they hoped to atone for past
offences, and to reconcile themselves to the King who wias
known to be bent on re-establishing prelacy throughout
his dominions as the only form of Protestantism that was
138 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
favourable to the intolerant and arbiti-ary claims of the
royal prerogative. Sordid selfishness, not enlightened prin-
ciple, was at the bottom of their conduct. The estates they
held consisted, for the most part, of confiscated lands, which
were still claimed by their former proprietors ; fear that
the King might yield to such claims converted these mer-
cenary time-servers into servile tools of his despotic power.
As the Restoration brought back the bishops, it brought
back the persecutions also. The restored prelates, knowing
that they could count on the support of the Crown, and
of the leading men in the country, resolved to enforce
entire conformity to the established ritual. Not content
with the powers they always possessed, they procured the
passage through parliament of a second Act of Conformity of
the most stringent character, requiring every clergyman not
only to profess in the presence of his congregation the
fullest acceptance of the Prayer-Book, but also to subscribe
a declaration that the subject, under no pretence whatever,
might bear arms against the King, and that the Solemn
League and Covenant was illegal and impious. Every person
who should refuse to comply with these requirements was
declared to be unfit to hold a benefice and forbidden, under
heavy penalties, to teach, preach, or administer the sacra-
ments, in any church, chapel, or public place. Clothed with
the increased power which this Act gave them, the prelates
were in haste to enforce its provisions. Jeremy Taylor, " the
impersonation and special jewel of Anglicanism " though
the professed advocate of toleration, was one of those who
were most forward to undertake the congenial task. There
were at the time seventy Presbyterian ministers in Ulster ;
of these, eight conformed, and the rest, refusing compliance,
were ejected from their parishes, and prohibited from ex-
ercising any ministerial duty among their attached and
suffering flocks. It was hard for these devoted pastel's to
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTEHNATINCJ. 139
be driven from their homes, and to bo deprived of their
means of support, yet these things they could have borne,
not only without a murmur, but with rejoicing cheerfulness,
had they been left at full liberty to continue their ministra-
tions among their sevei-al congregations.
The ejection of these clergymen from their jjarishes was the
commencement of another period of suffering and persecu-
tion to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Her worship
was interdicted ; her ministers who dared to perform
any ministerial office were made liaUe to imprisonment or
exile ; her church courts were declared to be illegal ; and
her people, who refused to attend the services of the Estab-
lishment, were subjected to heavy fines. The discovery
about this tinu of a consj)iracy for the subversion of the
government, known in history lus the Blood Plot, unhappily
furnished her enemies with a plea for increased severities.
When the Restoration took place, the army was made up,
for the most part, of Congregationalists and Anobaptists,
and such of the officers and men as were believed to be still
republicans at heart were quietly disbanded. This proceed-
ing naturally gave great offence, and the dissatisfaction was
increased not a little by Acts of Settlement and Explanation
passed soon after, which conferred exceptional advantages on
Episcopalians and Roman Catholics. The malcontents
united in a secret confederacy to overtlirow the government,
and proposed to seize Dublin Castle, to make a prisoner of
the Lord-Lieutenant, to put an end to the tyranny of the
bishops, and to take steps for the suppression of popery.
The plot was discovered on the eve of execution. Colonel
Blood, the life and soul of the conspiracy, contrived to make
his escape, but others who were deeply implicated, including
a Presbyterian minister of the name of Lecky, and a brother-
in-law of Blood, were captured and executed.
Earnest efforts were made to secure the co-operation of
140 PREHHYTKKIAN CIIUH(;II IN IRELAND.
the Pre8b3'tfirian8 of UlHtor in this iinfortunate moveniont,
but without HUCCORH. Unhappily on<! or two of th(;ir ininin-
ters were not equally proof against s(;(lu(;tion, and, in conse-
quence, all the Presbytorian pastors of Down and Antrim
incurred the suspicion of the Governmont, and an order for
their arrest was immediately issued. Some of them suffered
a tedious imprisonment, and others succeeded in escaping to
Scotland.
The harsli measures that were now recklessly employed by
the bishops to enforce uniformity of woi*ship, and to crush
the Presbyterians, betrayed a criminal <lisregard of the
interests of true religion in Irehuid. The total population
of the kingdom, at the time, was about 1,100,000, of whom
only 300,000 were Protestants. At least, one third of the
Protestants were Scots, and, almost to a man, Presbyterians.
In many quarters the religious destitution was deplorable.
To enforce conformity to the established woi-ship was greatly
to increase the prevailing destitution ; for it deprived all
the Scotch population and a large part of the English also,
of the only religious ministrations they were willing to ac-
dept ; while, to enhance the absurdity, there were pro-
bably not a hundred Episcopally ordained clergymen in the
whole island. Had the bishops been true shepherds, deeply
concerned for the spiritual welfare of their flocks, they would
have accepted with gratitude the services of the Presbyterian
ministers who constituted by far the ablest and most zealous
body of Protestant clergymen that were then in the king-
dom. But, instead of j)ursuing a course so peculiarly desir-
able in the existing state of the country, they not only drove
Out of the Establishment the greater portion of its ablest and
most successful ministers, but silenced them altogether,
prohibiting them, under heavy penalties, from preaching or
performing any ministerial duty among the thousands and
tens of thousands who, in consequence, were left without
DAUKNKS.S AND LKJIIT AF/rKUNATlNO. 141
nili^ious Hrrvio«3.s. Meuiiwhih?, Uoinisli |)t'i(>stH wore lal)Our-
ing ojMMily iuul witlioiit let or hiiulriiuco, tliligontly aup-
plyiu<5 tho nativo jK)|nilatioii witli Hpiritual iiiiiiiHtiiitiona,
tho hick of wliich in tho EHtsihli.shineiit, th(5 bishops, in
their anxiety to suppress Preshyteiianisiii, seemed to Ue
more in haste to increase than to diminish.
In the course of a few years, tlie Gove? ii meat, tiudiiig
that the Presbyterians wen; not to be coerced into con-
formity, and dreading the discontent which intolerant
measures were disseminating throughout a large and
influential section of the community, began to adopt a
milder and mon; lenient course. They restrained the Bishops'
Courts from the odioiis practice of imposing heavy tines upon
absentees from public worship, and relea.sed, from time to
time, the ministers who had been im[)risoned, some of
them for the long term of six years. Other things, besides,
led to their change of policy. A thorough investigation had
made it clear that the Presbyterians as a body had no part
in the Blood Plot ; and, probably the King had not alto-
gether forgotten their decided disapproval of the execution
of his father and the important services they had rendered
to himself in the j)art they had taken in his restoration to
the throne. This change in the temper and policy of the
Government was hailed with the liveliest satisfaction by
both ministers and people. Hitherto, they had been
obliged to use the utmost caution in meeting together for
public worship, for, not only had such meetings been inter-
dicted, but spies had been employed to watch their move-
ments, and, if anything illegal was discovered, a report was
immediately furnished to the nearest magistrate, who being,
in almost every instance, the subservient tool of the bishops,
was eager to intlict the heaviest penalty the law allowed.
But now they felt encouraged to assemble more openly for
public worship, especially as the return of those ministers
142 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
who had flecV from the country, and the arrival of several
others whom the fires of persecution had driven from Scot-
land, had added largely to the number of their preachers.
In these altered circumstances, the church began to as-
sume the more distinctly separate existence which she has
since maintained. As early as 1668, houses of worship
were erected in various diotricts, and in the following year
several Presb}i teries were organized. As it was not deemed
prudent, in the existing state of affairs, to court public
observation, instea 1 of a Synod, a committee, composed of
delegates from each of the Presbyteries, met piivately from
time to time, one of the first acts of which was to order
a collection to be taken up in all the congregations of the
church in aid of the ministers of Scotland who had fled
for refuge from pei*secution to Holland. The Church had
no legal security, however, for the continuance of the privil-
eges, scanty as they were, with which she was now happily
favoured. An over zealous and intolerant bishop might,
at any moment, assert his episcopal authority, and set the
fires of persecution burning afresh. As a matter of fact
about this very time, Boyle, who succeeded Jeremy Taylor,
as bishop of Down and Connor, in 1667, summoned twelve
of the Presbyterian ministers, whose congregations lay with-
in his diocese, to appear before him to answer for their
non-conformity. Fortunately, the summons turned out to
be but an impotent ebullition of Episcopal malignity. By
the timely and powerful interposition of Sir Arthur Forbes
— afterwards Earl Granard — always the warm and steadfast
friend of the Presbyterians, the bishop was compelled, to
drop the prosecution. Soon after, the same generous friend
was able to render her a service of more lasting value. In
1672, being at the time one of the Lords-justices of the king-
dom, he took the opportunity of a conference with the King
to recommend her clergy to His Majesty's favour ; and, in
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTERNATING. 143
consequence, the King was pleased to make tliem a grant of
£1,200 a year, to be shared with the widows and orphans of
the ministers who had been ejected at the Restoi*ation.
When the state of the Irish revenue, out of which the grant
was to be paid, came to be ascertained exactly, it was found
that only one half the sum was available, and the grant was
accordingly fixed at that amount. This grant was the origin
of the endowment, known as the Regiam Donum, which the
Irish Presbyterian Church enjoyed from this time onward,
with a few interruptions, till the passing of "The Irish Church
Act " in 1869, when the national church was dis-established,
and all endowments of religion withdrawn.
This grant, small as it was, was exceedingly distasteful to
the bishops, who, together with many others in high places,
instead of showing the slightest favour to the Pres-
byterians were ready to embrace every opportunity of
insulting and ill-using them. Their hostility towards them
has been frequently made manifest in the course of this
narrative. The following incident may serve to exhibit it in
a slightly different aspect. A new theatre was erected in
Dublin, in 1662, " unto which the bishops contributed
largely, though at the time they refused to give countenance
or assistance for building a church at Dame's St., where
there was great need." During the Christmas holidays of
1670, a play was put on the boards, entitled, "The Non-
conformist," intended to expose the Presbyterians to public
derision. The chief character in the play was a Presby-
terian minister, whom the inventive genius of the author
had laboured to present in a caricature the best fitted
to provoke the scorn and ridicule of the audience. But just
as the merriment was at the highest, and the poor Presby-
terian preacher, under the most laughable protests, was
being placed in the stocks, the topmost gallery, crowded
with spectators, suddenly gave way, carrying with it, in its
H4 PRESBYTi:(lIiVN Ci^yBOH IN IBELANp!.
fall, the gallery below, both coming to the ground with a
terrible crash, and heaping together, in one indistinguishable
mass, the lords and ladies, and Sne gentlemen, and clergy,
who, but a moment ago, had been overwhelming a supposed
Presbyterian minister with commingled shouts of laughtei',
derision and scorn. Many were killed on the spot ; a larger
number were seriously injured ; some carried with them to
their graves marks of the terrible catastrophe.
During the reign of Charles IT., the most stringent mea-
sures were employed to force prelacy upon both England and
Scotland. In the former country, five persons might not
meet together for worship otherwise than the law prescribed ;
in the latter, not so much as family worship could be ob-
served if only one person more than the family themselves
was present. During a large part of the same reign, as al-
ready indicated, freedom of public worship was largely
enjoyed in Ireland. In this neriod of comparative peace the
Irish Presbyterian Church was favoured with a large measure
of prosperity. Presbyteries proceeded steadily and cautiously
tp the settlement of ministers, not only in the north but
also in several places in the sputh and west of the kingdom.
The supply of ministers, though insuflScient to meet all the
wants of the field, was largely increased by the arrival, one
after another, of ordained clergymen and licentiates of the
Church of Scotland, who were driven by persecution from
their own shores. The pastors who filled her pulpits were
assiduous and faithful in a high degree in the discharge of
their functions, aii.\ their abundant labours were greatly
blessed. Every now and again, however, they were made to
feel the force of prelatic hostility. Their marriages were of-
ten subjects of prosecution and censure in the ecclesiastical
courts, and large numbers of their people were subjected tp
actions at law, and mulcted in heavy fines for refusing to
attend on the Established worship. The battle of Bothwejl
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTERNATING. 145
Bridge, Scotland, on the 22nd of June, 1679, unhappily
awoke afresh the jealousy of the Government. Exaggerated
reports that the Presbyterians of Ulster were ready to join
in a similar insurrection were conveyed to the Lord-Lieu-
tenant ; but the several Presbyteries were prompt to take
steps to vindicate them from the aspersions of their enemies,
and, happily, by a united declaration of loyalty and peace-
ableness, succeeded in removing the unfounded suspicions
of the authorities.
In the beginning of the year, 1681, the Presbytery of
Lagan resolved to hold a fast in all their congregations, and,
as was usual in such cases, drew up a paper containing tlie
causes of the proposed fast, which appears to nave enkindled
the resentment of the magistrates of the district. Legal
proceedings were instituted against four membei-s of the
Presbytery, who were ultimately indicted at the summer
assizes in Lifford for holding the fast, found guilty,
and sentenced to pay a fine of £20 each, to subscribe
an agreement not to oftend in a similar manner
again, and to be imprisoned till they should comply. They
chose rather to suffer imprisonment than to enter into a
sinful engagement. After eight months confinement in
Lifford gaol, they were released by the sheriff, and the
fines were afterwards remitted.
This violent proceeding encouraged the High Church party
in Ulster to enter upon a fresh crusade against the Presbyter-
ians. Their meeting-houses were closed ; their public worship
was interdicted ; the penalties for refusing to conform were
inflicted with unwonted severity in many districts ; Presby-
teries were, once more, compelled to meet in private, and
to exercise jurisdiction with the utmost caution and reserve.
In these unfavourable circumstances, the greater number of
the ministers of Derry and Donegal resolved to emigrate to
America, in the hope of finding in the New World the free-
10
146 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
dom denied them in their own. But the death of Charles
which occurred soon after, and the mitigation of the evils of
their condition which followed prevented them from carry-
ing out their resolution. Some of their number had already
crossed the Atlantic. As early as 1668, mention is made of
a young man from Ireland who laboui'ed with much success
in Maryland, in which, as well as in Virginia, many families
from Ulster settled during the troubled decade between 1670
aud 1680. In 1682, the Rev. W. Trail, a member of the
PresV)yteiy of Lagan, emigrated also to Maryland, and was
followed some eight years afterwards by the Rev. Josias
Makie. About the same time, the Rev. Samuel Davies
settled in Delaware. But of all the ministers who about
this time emigrated to America, the mcst noted was the
Rev. Francis MacKemie, who was licens ed by the Lagan
Presbytery, in 1681, and appears to have crossed the Atlan-
tic shortly after. He settled in Eastern Virginia, and died
there in 1708. It would seem, however, that he did not
confine his labours altogether to Virginia, for, it is related,
that, in 1707, he was imprisoned in New York for preaching
without the permission of the Governor, not escaping
confinement till he had paid costs amounting to up-
wards of <£80. In 1706, he organized the first Pres-
bytery that was constituted on this continent, under
the designation of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. It
embraced seven clerical members, of whom two, besides
himself, were Ulster men ; shortly after its organization,
four other Irishmen were added to its roll. To William
Tennant, another Irishman, belongs the no less distinguished
honour of being the father of Presbyterian Colleges in
America. In 1726, he built, opposite his residence, a log
hut in which to educate his four sons for the ministry.
Other young men subsequently received their theological
training in the same humble school of the prophets, of whom
DARKNESS AND LIGHT ALTERNATING. 147
three afterwards became presidents of the same institution,
when it had ceased to be the log hut of Noshaminy, and liad
become the College of Princeton. The Synod of Ulster in
1754, gave it its imprimatur, and several of its wealthy
members manifested their interest in its welfare by trans-
mitting the sum of £500 to aid it in its work. In 1718, Mr.
McGregor, minister of Aghadoey, with a number of his
people emigrated to New Hampshire, where they founded
a city which they called Londonderry, in loving remem-
brance of the county they had left.
148 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER IX.
i
FRKKDOM's BATTLE.
Death of Charles II - His character— SuccesHion of James II— Attempts to restore
Ilonianisni as the National religion— Declaration for Liberty- of Conscience —
Situation of affairs increasingly alarniinjj— Protestants unite— Seige of Derry —
Particulars of— Relief.
CHARLES II. died in 1685, and was succeeded on the
throne by his brother, James II., who was formally
proclaimed King on the 11th of February of the
same year. During his whole reign, Charles was at
heart a Papist. Prior to the Restoration he was privately
received into the Church of Rome, Peter Talbot, afterwards
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, officiating on the
occasion of his admission ; but it was not till he came to die
that he threw off the mask and received absolution from a
Romish priest. For many years, he was in secret alliance
with France, from whose King he was base enough to accept
an annual pension of £200,000 for the concealed purposes of
establishing Popery and arbitrary power. Rochester's epi-
grammatic jest that "he never said a foolish thing, and
never did a wise one " supplies a tolerably correct index to
his general character.
James was openly and avowedly a Romanist, and, on his
accession to the throne, speedily made it manifest that he
was prepared to stretch his royal prerogative to the utmost
for the purpose of overthrowing the Protestant rt-ligion and
establishing Popery in its stead as the national religion. In
a letter to the Pope he declared, that it was his determina-
tion "to spread the Catholic faith, not only in his three
kingdoms, but over all the dispersed colonies of his subjects
freedom's battle. 149
in America." His plans for tlio acconiplishinont of his
object in its relation to Ireland soon began to be i)ut into
execution. The Lonls-jiistices were removed from office,
and the government of the kingdom j)laced in the hands of
his brother-in-law, Lord Clarendon, who, though a Protestant,
was expected to be, from his relationship to himself, thor-
oughly obedient to his wishes. As bisho[)s' Sees fell vacant,
no new appointments were made, and their revenues were
directed to be paid into the treasury to create a fund for the
endowment of the Romish hierarchy. The militia, which
was composed exclusively of Protestants, was disarmed.
Colonel Talbot, commonly called " Lying Dick Talbot," a
bigoted Romanist and a worthless profligate, was placed at
the head of the army with absolute power of command.
This uncontrolled authority Talbot speedily exercised in a
manner in keeping with his well-known character. Every
regiment was remodelled ; Protestants were set aside, and
Romanists put in their place. These arbitrary proceedings
naturally filled the Protestants with alarm, which was
speedily increased by the recall of Lord Clarendon, who
had not been found to be sufficiently submissive, and by
the appointment of Talbot, recently created Earl of Tyrcon-
nell, to succeed him. The new Viceroy was in haste to
push forward the Romanizing process that had already been
begun. The magistracy, the bench, every corporation
throughout the kingdom, was remodelled, and every ofiice of
importance in the country assigned to Romanists. Romish
priests were encouraged to appropriate the tithes of the
parishes in which they officiated ; funds set apart for a sound
Protestant education were employed in supporting Popish
seminaries ; Protestant clergymen were forbidden to discuss
controversial topics in the pulpit, and the strongest in-
ducements were held out to them to conform to the favoured
church.
150 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCm IN IRELAND.
For the purjiose of conciliating Presbyterijins and Dissen-
ters and of dividing and so weakening the Protestant interest,
in April, 1687, James published his celebrated "Declaration
for Liberty of Conscience," suspending, by virtue of his
royal authority the execution of all the penal laws that had
been framed to enforce conformity to the national church,
and prohibiting the imposition of religious tests as qualifica-
tions for ofiice. This step, though unconstitutional, brought
seasonable relief to the Presbyterians, who did not hesitate
to avail themselves of the liberty it conferred. Their places
of worship that had been closed for the last five years were
re-opened ; Presbytery meetings were publicly held, and all
ecclesiastical functions were openly performed. The advan-
tages, however, that the Declaration conferred, did not blind
them to its true import. They did not fail to discern that
it was simply intended to pave the way for the complete
establishment of Romanism throughout the kingdom, when
all the privileges it conferred upon themselves would be in-
continently withdrawn. It was in vain, therefore, that the
Viceroy and the friends of the court endeavoured to unite
them in an address to the Crown, expressive of thankfulness
for the royal clemency. When they looked around them,
and saw every office of importance in the country trans-
ferred to Romanists, and an army, composed almost ex-
clusively of adherents of the same communion, under daily
and careful training to a higher state of efficiency, and
occupying every post of vantage in the kingdom, they
would have been fools indeed if they had yielded to the
blandishments of their wily adversaries, and been betrayed
into an open expression of approval of a measure that, what-
ever may have been its apparent excellence, was really a
step towards the speedy overthrow cf all that they held in
deepest veneration.
During the year 1 688, the situation became daily more
fkkedom's battle. 151,
alarming. KoinaniHin, liko tho rotiuiiiii^' tido, was <,'rii(lually
but surely nearing its ancient landmarks, and its adherents
were exulting in the prospect of its coming triumph. Pro-
testants were not only disarmed and deprivtnl of all political
power, but subjectetl to countless indignities and hardships
for which they sought redress in vain. In these dis-
couraging circumstances, which they justly regarded as the
certain precursors, of more serious troubles, they flotl in
great numbers either to England or to Scotland. It is
said that when Lord Clarendon took his departure from
Dublin, no less than 1500 of the Protestant families of the
city left at the same time.
In this hour of peril, when the entire Protestantism of the
country was threatened with extinction, the Presbyterians,
forgetting all the ill-usage they had endured at the hands
of the Episcopalians, cordially united with them in a bold
and determined effort to save themsslves and their common
faith from impending ruin. Nor were they without encour-
agement to hope that hearty and sustained co-oj)eration
would ultimately avert the threatened danger. Certainly
it soon became apparent that it was likely, at no
distant date, to receive effective supj^ort. As the year
drew near to its close, tidings reached them that
the Prince of Orange had landed in England, on .the
4th of November, and that the avowed object of his
coming was to maintain the Protestant religion and
the liberties of the kingdom. By none was the intelli-
gence more cordially received than by the Presbyterians.
As soon as it reached them they despatched one of the more
influential of their number to wait on His Highness, to
tender to him in their name the heartiest welcome, to lay
before him the dangers to which they were exposed, with a
request that he would have a caie for their relief, and " to
152 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
represent their readiness to servo hiiu and his interest as far
as they may have access."
The gentleman who consented to undertake this important
but dangerous mission had scarcely set out on his journey,
when an incident occurred that greatly increa.sed the T;eneral
alarm and constrained the Protestants of Ulster to take
active measures for their common safety. On Monday, the
3rd of December, an anonymous letter, evidently written by
a person of very limited education, was found lying in the
streets of Comber, a small town in County Down, addressed
to the Earl of Mount-Alexander, a Protestant nobleman of
the neighbourhood, warning his Lordship that a general
massacre of the Protestants had been planned by the Irish,
to commence the following Sunday. Similar letters were
addressed to others in different parts of the Province. In a
time of confirmed peace and security, this missive would
have attracted hardly any notice ; but in the excitement and
uneasiness that recent events had created it gave rise to the
most alarming apprehensions. A repetition of the atrocities
of '41, the memory of which was still fresh in the minds of
thousands, seemed to be near at hand. Copies of the letter
were sent forthwith to the Capital, and to Derry, and other
towns in Ulster. It reached Derry on the morning of Friday,
the 7th day of December, and the consternation that it pro-
duced was greatly increased by the arrival at the same time
of intelligence that a regiment composed exclusively of
Romanists and commanded by Lord Antrim, a Roman
Catholic nobleman, whose brother had taken part in
the worst atrocities of the late rebellion, was on its
march to the city, and might be expected at any
moment. During the previous fortnight, Derry had
been without a garrison, the regiment that had been
quartered there having been recalled to Dublin, to
sujiply the places of troops that had been despatched to
freedom's battle. 153
Kr gland to assis*^ th« King ugainst the Prince of Orange.
Antrim's Redshanks were sent to occn[)y the vacant post,
and as they were all Romanists, it was inferred that they
were coming to take part in the apprehended massacre.
The little city was in a state of the greatest agitation.
The question whetluir the approaching regiment should
be allowed admittance was everywhere eagerly dis-
cussed. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that it
should be excluded, for, it was felt that if there was
to be a general uprising of the Irish, it was of the
utmost importance that a ])lace of such strength should
he in the hands of the Protestant i)arty. Ezekiel Hop-
kins, the Protestant bishop, and the majority of the
Episcopal clergy held by the doctrine of the divine right of
kings and non-resistance, and strongly opposed such a bold
measure, but the Rev. James Gordon, Presbyterian minister
of an adjoining parish, strongly urged its adoption. At the
very last moment, when the approaching force was already
in sight, and when the authorities seemed to bo incapable of
coming to a decision, several young men of the city, probably
all of them Presbyterians, rushed boldly forward, seized the
keys, and closed the gates, in the face of the King's troops.
Antrim's men, struck with astonishment at this bold and
unexpected movement, seemed at a loss to know what to do.
To aid their wavering decision, James Morrison, one of the
citizens cried out in tones loud enough to reach their eai-s,
" Bring hither one of the great guns." The hint was enough.
Off they ran with a rush, scampering down the hill like a flock
of sheep before a mastiff, each seeking to outstrip his neighbour
in his efforts to escape beyond the reach of danger. After
lingering two days at the Waterside, in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the city, they took their departure, and made
their way to Carrickfergus. Their leaving was hastened by
an incident of an exceedingly ludicrous character. George
154 PRESnYTKRIAN ClIURCH IN IRKLAND.
Cooke, SI ImtcfuM', IukI diawii up, probiiWIy for liis own
amusemont, a squad of fifty or sixty boys, at the Ferry
quay, and soon aftiu*, a party jf thirty horH<;iuen appeared on
the Gl(!nd('rniot hills. Though neither party had any hostile
intention, the valorous soldiery saw danger at hand, and
fled as precipitat(!ly as if a whole legion ot veterans was
at their heels, some without their horses, and some with-
out their baggage. One gallant officer ran away in his
stocking-soles.
The rashne.ss and impetuosity of youth are but poor
guides in a great crisis. Perhaps a little retiection may open
the eyes of the young men and of the citiz«Mi8 who support
them to see the t(nnerity and danger of what has been
hastily done. So reasoned Bishop Hojikins, whose rever-
ence for kingly authority rendered him insensible to
the higher claims of religion and liberty. Accord-
ingly, he goes down to the Diamond, and makes a
speech in which he emi)loys the whole force of his
Episco[)al eloquence to persuade them to open the
gates. But all in vain. '* My Loid," said young Irwin,
s[)eaking from the crowd, " Your doctrine is good, but
we can't hear you out." Some of the more cautious and
timid of the citizens sided with the bishop, but the
general verdict is in favour of the young men. The gates
are closed, and closed they must remain. Better die in honour-
able warfare than be butchered by Antrim's Redshanks.
Preparations are begun for backing up the action taken.
The citizens capable of bearing arms are divided into six
companies, with a captain, a lieutenant and an ensign ap-
pointed over each. Such arms and ammunition as are avail-
able are served out. Letters are sent to various parts of the
country, stating what had been done and asking for assist-
ance. One gentleman goes to Kngland to procure, if possible,
fkekdom's battle. 155
ii f'lirthrr supply of arriis and iiiiiMMinitioii. Tho noxt day
tho bishop t'ouiul it coi»voni«iit to UiJivo tlicicity, uiul, strange
to say, tho city imver had ifasoii to re^i-t't his <h"parture.
Tho imint>s of tho <,'allant yomii^ iiumi wlio ch)sed tlio gates
of the Mai(UMi City, (h'Sf^vo to he h(5hl in (fverlasting roinoin-
brance by Iiisli Protcistants ovorywhero, and by all who
prize Britisii tVoedom. Tlioy wore : — Homy Cainpsie,
William Cruickshanks, Roi)ort Shorrard, I)ani«'l vShorrard,
Aloxandor Irwin, James Stewart, Itobort Morrison, Alexan-
der Cunningham, Samuel ilunt, James Spiko, John Cun-
ningluun, William Cairns and Samuel Harvey. Tho deed
that will shed a glory over their names for all time was
the result of a sudd(!n and a{)par(mtly unimportant impulse,
but results of stu[)endous significance hung suspended on the
issue. The fate of the three kingdoms was at stake. Had
the gates of Derry been opened to receive a Popish garrison,
the armies of James would have boon in possession of the
whole of Ulster, and from thence would have easily pa8.sea
into Scotland, wliere, uniting with the forces of Claverhouse,
Viscount Dundee, they would have made an easy conquest
of that kingdom, crossing the border afterwards in such
accumulated strength as would have rendei-ed the con-
quest of England hardly less certain. But the gallant
action of this noble band of patriotic youths effectually
barred the way to the execution of such disastrous move-
ments ; in the issue destroyed ail hope of Popish as-
cendency, and placed the religion and liberties of the
British Empire on a foundation that remains firm to this
hour, and that, we trust, will remain firm as the founda-
tions that support the everlasting hills till time shall be no
more.
The inhabitants of Enniskillen, the only other fortified
place in the north-west of the province, were not slow to
156 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
imitjite the example set them by the men of Deny. They
had received similar warning, and they resolved to shut
their gates against the Romish troo{)S Tyrconnell had
despatched to occupy their garrison. They even outstripped
the men of Deny in the ardour of their heroic zeal, for, in-
stead of allowing the Romish detachments to approach their
gates they boldly attacked them on their march to the town,
and completely routed them. In these decisive steps they
were especially encouraged by the Rev. Robert Kelso,
Presbyterian minister of the place, who, like the rest of his
brethren throughout Ulster, '* laboured both publicly and
privately in animating his hearers to take up arms and stand
upon their own defence, showing example himself by bearing
arms and marching at tho head of them when together."
Though the 9th of December passed without any upiising
of the Irish, the Protestants throughout Ulster felt the
necessity of continuing their defensive preparations. It was
evident that a great and decisive struggle was at hand.
Tyrconnell was daily levying troops. Romanists everywhere
were secretly providing themselves with arms ; even the
priests were procuring military implements ; a spirit of
boastful exultation was abroad ; Ireland would soon be in
the hands of iti own children, and not a Protestant would
bo left to profane the soil. There was urgent need, there-
fore, that the Protestants should immediately take meas-
sures for their common defence. The several counties formed
themselves into Protestant associations ; these associations
elected councils of war, and a general for each county ; these
several councils again were formed into a general council,
with its seat at Hillsborough, in County Down.
One of the first acts of the General Council was to des-
patch one of their number with an address to the Prince of
Orange, informing him of their dangerous situation, and the
measures they had taken for their safety, and assuring him
freedom's battle. 157
of their devotion to liis cause. Shortly afterwards, a com-
mittee re})reseiitiiig the several Presbyteries of the Pres-
byterian Church met,and commissioned two of its mem-
bers to convey a similar address to the Prince, and
" to lay the desires of the Ulster Presbyterians be-
fore the English Convention then about to meet." In
about two months after his departure, the messenger of
the General Council returned with an answer to their
addi'ess in which the Prince expressed approval of their
conduct, and promised them speedy and effectual sup-
port. About the same time the forces the general council
had been able to put into the field came for the
firat time into collision with the King's army. To enter
into a detailed statement of the military movements that
followed is not our intention. Suffice it to say that the
Protestant forces, after displaying the valour that might be
expected from men who were fighting for their altars and
their homes, were oblige'! to retire before an army immen-
sely superior in number, equipment, and training, and
ultimately to seek refuge within the walls of Derry, the
heroic defence of which now claims our attention.
When the Viceroy learned that the inhabitants of Derry
had shut its gates against the King's troops, he was greatly
incensed, and, as was his wont in times of great passion, he
flung his wig into the fire. He had sense enough, however,
to know that something more than burning wigs was needed
to reduce the refractory inhabitants of Derry to submission.
Accordingly, he instantly despatched Lord Mountjoy and
Colonel Lundy with six companies of their regiment, to go
down to the rebellious city and enforce its obedience. Lord
Mountjoy was one of the few Protestants who still held
command in the army. He was personally acquainted
with the citizens of Derry, for he had resided in the city for
a length of time as commander of the regiment that had been
158 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
but recently recalled to Dublin. Unwilling to proceed to
extremities against his co-religionists, and learning that they
were disposed to come to terms he left his men at Omagh,
and proceeded alone to Derry, in the hope of arranging a
pacific settlement. This was easily done, as both parties
were desirous of avoiding bloodshed. It was agreed that
Lord Mountjoy, on his part, should procure from the Lord-
Deputy a free pardon for all who had been concerned in
shutting the gates, that the city should admit two companies
of his regiment, consisting exclusively of Protestants, and
that the town companies, recently organized, should retain
their arms, and do duty with the others.
In accordance with this agreement, two companies of
Lord Mountjoy's regiment, under command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Lundy, a Protestant Episcopalian from the neighbor-
hood of Dumbarton, were admitted within the walls. It
was in this way that Lundy came to be military governor of
the city.
When Lundy became Governor of Derry he held
the position in the name of King James. As yet, the
citizens had not openly declared for the Prince of Orange,
but were egerly watching the evolution of events, and ready
to take that important step the moment the progress of
affairs in England opened the way. They had already
placed themselves in communication with the Prince, and,
in answer to their pressing application, were cheered by the
arrival, on the 21st of March [1689], of 8,000 stand of arms,
480 barrels of powder, and £595 in money. Along with
these seasonable supplies came a commission for Colonel
Lundy investing him with the supreme command, which
was to be given to him upon his taking the oath of fidelity
to King William. Lundy took the required oath without
hesitation, as did all the officers, both civil and military, in
the town and garrison, and on the following day, March
freedom's battle. 159
22nd, William and Maiy were proclaimed amid the wildest
demonstrations of joy and gladness. The day after, a trust-
worthy citizen was sent to England with an address to King
William, and with a request for further supplies. This re-
quest received immediate attention ; ships with two regi-
ments on board were at once ordered to Derry ; but when
they arrived, Lundy added to treachery of which he had
been guilty on several former occasions by refusing to allow
the soldiers to land, on the plea that the place was untena-
ble, and that, even if it were tenable, the provision stores
would not last for a week. They sailed away and
left Derry to its fate ; Lundy, meanwhile, was preparing
to surrender the town to King James, but when his
scheme was ripe for execution, it was happily defeated by the
timely intervention of a gallant Presbyterian officer, Adam
Murray, a descendant of one of the Murrays of Philip-
haugh, Scotland, who had already rendered important
service to the Protestant cause, and who was nere-
after to play a part so conspicuous in the defence of the
city as to be justly entitled to be forever after regarded
as the Hero of the siege. The guilty traitor, fearing the
vengeance of the citizens whom he had sought to betray,
escaped out of the city disguised as a private soldier with a
load of matchwood on his back, and succeeded in reaching
Scotland. Some months after, he was committed to the
Tower of London for his conduct, and, finally, after careful
enquiry by the authorities, was dismissed from His
Majesty's service.
The treachery and flight of Lundy left the city without a
governor. Captain Murray would have been unanimously
chosen to the responsible post, but, on his ueciining the
honour, the choice fell on Major Baker. When Major
Baker died some time afterwards, Colonel Mitchellburn
became his successor. The Rev. George Walker, an Episco-
160 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
pal clergyman, was chosen as assistant governor, and placed
in charge of the provision stores.
Meanwhile King James himself appeared on the scene.
" Having obtained at last the promised assistance from
France, he landed at Kinsale on the 12th of March,
bringing with him 5,000 French troops, under Marshal
Rosen, several hundred officers for the Irish regiments,
cannon, ammunition, and arms for 40,000 men. He
passed through Dublin on the 24th, when writs were
issued for a parliament, and on the 8th of April, he
set out for Ulster, at the head of twelve thousand men,
and a considerable train of artillery, intending to return and
open the Session in May, when the Ulster troubles should
have been put down." He arrived at St. Johnston, within
five miles of Derry, on the 18th, and, as the city declined,
contrary to his expectations to throw open its gates to
receive him, he immediately placed it in a state of blockade.
The memorable siege that followed now commenced. The
gates were closed, it will be remembered, on the 7th of the
previous December.
Nearly a thousand non-combatants, chiefly old men,
women, and children, voluntarily left the cii-y, now that
hostilities were about to begin. When the gates were closed
in December, 1688, there were only 300 fighting men with-
in the walls ; now this small force had increased to fully
7,000, among a total population of 20,000, chiefly refugees
from the Counties of Down, Antrim, Derry, and Tyrone.
The officers of the higher grades were about equally divided
between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians, but those
of the lower grades were chiefly Presbyterians. Among the
common soldiers, the Presbyterians were fifteen to one.
Seventeen Episcopal and eight Presbyterian clergymen re-
mained in the city. The cathedral, which was the only
place of worship within the walls, was used by both parties
freedom's battle. 161
in common ; the Episcopalians occupicul it in tlie forenoon,
ami the Presbyterians in the afternoon of every Sabhatli.
" In the catliedral, in the forenoon when the conformists
preached, there was but com})aratively a thin attendance ;
in the afternoon, it was very full, and there were four or
five meetings of the Presbyterians in the town besides."
The defence of Derry ranks as one of the most heroic strug-
gles the annals of the world record. "Deserted bv the Enff-
lish regiments, betrayed by their own commander, without
stores and half armed, the sho})keepers and apprentices of a
commercial town," reinforced by farmers from the surrounding
country, successfully ** defended an unfortified city against a
disciplined army of 25,000 men, led by trained officers, and
amply provided with artillery."
As the siege [)roceeded, the defenders of the city were
cheered by repeated successes. In the very first sally that
was made by the garrison, a small force of five hundred men
succeeded in taking a standard and some spoil, and inflicting
upon the enemy a loss which was estimated at two hundred,
including several officers of note, and, among them, Maumont,
the French General, who was slain by Colonel Murray in a
hand to hand encounter. At no time did the besiegers obtain a
decisive advantage ; and if only food and ammunition should
hold out, the garrison became increasingly confident of their
ability to maintain their position. The enemy seemed to
have, at length, reached the same conviction. Towards
the end of June, Rosen, who was supreme in command at
the time, had recourse to a stratagem that showed that he
had abandoned the hope of taking the city by force of arms.
By a letter enclosed in an empty shell that he ordered to be
thrown into the city, he informed the garrison that, unless
they surrendered on or before the first of July, he would
gather all the Protestants that had remained at their homes,
between Charlemont and the sea, old men, women, and chil-
li
162 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
dreii, and drive tlioiii under the walls, and leave tluMn there
to starve to death. The i'ariisou at tirst n'i'arded the threat
as a mere pretence; intended to intimidate them into siirren-
dering; but they were soon undeceived. On the morning of
the second of July, they saw^ to their consternation, a motley
crowd of their own panjnts, and wives, and sisters, and chil-
dren, and friends, to the numljer of twelve hundred, ap-
proaching the city, driven by a S(piad of brutal soldiers.
The situation was embarrasing in the extreme. To admit
so large a number of helpless and de[)endent people meant
the surrender of the city in a few days for want of
food; not to admit them meant to see them die a j)ainfal
and lingering death in their very presence. It is hardly
possible, in these days, to form an adecpiate conception of
the intense horror with which the Protestant po]>ulation of
Ulster, at this time, justly looked upon Komanism. The
memory of '4:1 had burned itself into the hearts of the people
universally, and the worst fate was })referred to a surrender
to its clemency. The i)oor people outside the walls were in
the hands of enemies whom they regarded as blood-thirsty
savages and expected no mercy ; but they were not ])re-
pared to see their friends in the city placed in the same
perilous position. Rather than that, they ai'e willing to die
one by one, inch by inch. With a heroism unmatched even
in the city itself they implore tlie garrison not for a moment
to think of surrender out of pity for them. Their loss, should
everyone of them perish at once, can, in no wise, affect the
great struggle at issue ; let the city but continue to sustain
with unyielding endurance the position it has taken, and
the Protestant religion may yet be preserved from exter-
mination, and Ulster may still coutinue to be the home of a
loyal Protestant population.
Though the garrison declined to o[)en the gates to
the admission of their friends without in accordance
FilE?:DOM's BATTLE. 163
with tlieir own wishes and (mtro;itios, tlioy yet could not
allow them to perisii without ni.ikiug an otfort to save
them. The Governor and otlicers immediately ordered
a gallows to be erected on the Doubh; Bastion, situated
at the south-west corner of the walls, in sight of the
enemy's camp, and comm}ind(?d all the prisoners in their
hands to prepare for instant death. These })risoners had
hitherto been treated with all possil)le kindness and con-
sideration, l)ut they were now assunnl that unless the starv-
ing multitude outside the walls were immediately allowed to
return unmolested to tlieir homes, not one of them would
escape the hangman's rope. The expedient proved successful.
Rosen, informed of the determination of the garrison, ulti-
mately yet reluctantly relented, and, on Wednesday, the
l)00r people were not only released from their miserable
})light, but supplied with provisions and money for the home-
ward journey.
Meanwhile hunger and disease had begun to decimate
the ranks of the besieged, yet none spoke, none thought
of surrender. Let us die in the last ditch, rather than that,
was the universal cry. As July wore on, the situation
became daily more and more distressing. On the 8th of the
month, *' the garrison was reduced, chiefly from hunger and
disease, to 5,520 men, and, on that day, there was distributed
to each man from the provision stores, a pound of meal, a
pound of tallow, and two pounds of aniseed. The meal was
mixed with the tallow, and to the mixture was added ginger,
pepper, or aniseed ; and the whole was made into pancakes,
which proved no despicable fare, especially when no better
could be obtained." As the days wore away, even food of
this kind could only be had in diminishing quantities.
Towards the end of the month it was not to be had, either
for love or money. Dogs, rats, the most loathsome vermin
came to be dainties, and hides and shoe-leather were tha
164 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
onliiuiry faro. Multitudes wore dying daily of famine and
of disoa.s('S generated l)y unwliolesouK? food. Yet dreadful
as the situation was, the city continued to be defended with
the utmost gallantry. Kvery attack was successfully re-
pelled, and the breaches made in the walls by day were
repaired by night with incredible activity. It seemed that
by some mysterious agency the enthusiasm of the hour was
able to dominate the body in the time of action, and to convert
walking skeletons into most agile and fearless soldiers. " 1
could not," says John Hunter, of Ma'j;hera, who served as a
common soldier throughout the siege, "I could not get a drink
of clear water, and suffered heavily from thirst, and was so
distressed by hunger that I could have eaten any vermin,
but could not get it. Yea, there was nothing that was any
kind of flesh or food that I would not have eaten, if I had
it Oh ! none will believe but those who have found
it by experience, what some poor creatures suffered in that
siege. There were many who had been curious respecting
what they put into their mouths before they came to the
siege of Londonderry, who, before that siege was ended,
would have eaten what a dog would not eat — for they would
have eaten a dead dog, and be very glad to get it ; and one
dog will hardly eat another. I speak from woeful experience,
for I myself would have eaten the poorest cat or dog I ever
saw with my eyes. The famine was so great that many a
man, woman, and child, died for want of food. I myself
was so weak from hunger, that I fell under my musket one
morning as I was going to the walls ; yet God gave me
strength to continue all night at my post there, and enabled
me to act the part of a soldier, as if I had been as strong as
ever I was ; yet my face was blackened with hunger. I
was so hard put to it by reason of the want of food that I
had hardly any heart to speak or walk ; and yet when the
enemy was coming, as many a time they did, to storm the
FRKKI)0>i's BATTLE. 165
walls, tli(;u 1 found as if my fonnor strength returned to me.
I am sure it was the l^ord that kept the city, and none
else ; for there were many of us that c«)uld hartUy stand on
our feet befoi-o the enemy attacked the walls who, when
they weie assaultin<^ the out trenches, ran out a<5ainst them
most ninjbly and with great courage. Indeed, it was never
the poor starved men that were in Derry that kept it out,
but the mighty God of Jacob, to whom be praise for ever
and ever."
Deep and dreadful as was tlie distress that prevailed
throughout the beleaguered and famished city, it was made
deeper and more unbearable still by the knowledge
thai there lay at only a few miles distance ample
means of relief that it re(|uired no great energy or
daring to make available. The Government of William
was thoroughly alive to the importance of rendering all
possible assistance to a city that was making such heroic
efforts to establish its authority in Ireland. As early
as June, several ships of war, carrying three regiments of
foot, with vessels laden with annnunition and ])rovisions,
under the command of Major General Kirke, sent from
England for the relief of the garrison, anchored in
Lough Foyle, within sight of the city. Unfortunately the
person entrusted with the couimand proved to be unfit
for the position. When the expedition he connnanded
first cast anchor in the Lough, it would have been compara-
tively easy to have reached the city; and, though the enemy,
as might be expected, eagerly embraced the o})portunity his
criminal delay furnished to render tlie passage uj) to the city
as difficult and dangerous as possible by throwing across
the river a boom made of beams of fir, clamped with iron,
and bound round with great cables twelve inches thick, and
by the construction of a formi«lable fort on each side of the
river at its narrowest, at no tinu; wen; the obstacles insur-
IGG PUESBYTKillAN CHUIKJII IN lUELAND.
inountable to tlio skilled <larin<^ of a coinpotcnt and intrepid
commander. The seqiKil m;ide this clear, for, wh(!n, at
length, the attempt was made to force a passagt; to the city,
it was accomplished with no great ditliculty. For seven
weeks, tlie fleet, the tall masts of which could be seen from
the tower of the catliedral, lay inactive whilst the hrave
defenders of the city were enduring unparallehid privations
and sufferings that it only re(piired a bold niovement to ter-
minate in a few hours. Thestj seven weeks might have
stretched into twice seven, com})elling the city to surrend(;r
from the want of living men to man its walls, had it not
been that the Rev. James Gordon, the same Presbyterian
clergyman who had counselled the closing of the gates in
face of the Redshanks, contrived to i)rocure an interview
with Kirke, and to induce him to resolve on the passage
of the river.
It was the morning of Sabbath, the 28th of July, 1G89.
The sun rose in splendour. The sky overhi^ad soon became
radiant with his brightness, and poured down a flood of
glory that contrasted strangely with the gloom that over-
shadowed the suffering city. The her.rts of its gallant de-
fender were filled with the gloomiest apprehensions. It
seemed at last that all their heroic struggles, maintained
through long weary weeks of privation and suffering, must end
in failure. Unless relief comes at once they cannot hold out
a day longer. In their diie extremity they make another
attempt to attract Kirke's attention by tiring several shots
from the flat roof of the cathedral, and by lowering a flag
to intimate their distressing condition. For the flrst
time their signals are answered by the fire of six great
guns ; and as the welcome sound conies booming up the
river, to their intense delight, they l)ehold a commotion
in the fleet below. As tliey strain their (;yes in eager and
anxious gaije along the river and away out to the Lough,
kiikkdom's hatti,k. 107
tlioy boliold, to tlioir yot (Ioojxt joy, four vessols <l(itacli
tlicniHolves from tlio rest of tlic llcot, iind turn in tlicir
(lin^ction. One of tlio four v(!H.so1h, tlie Dartniovih, was
ii frii^ato, oouniumded by (ya|»tiun Lcaskr; tlu; otlier tliree
were provision ships. On move the j^aUant sliips, tlie frii^ate
in a<lvance. A formidahhi fort on the left bank of the river
safely j)ass(Hl, the frigate casts anchor, whilst two of the
provision sliips that she had shdtc'red from the fire of
the fort mov(f on, attended by a long boat " well
barricaded and armed with seamen to cut the boom," the
tide in their favour but the wind sinkin^^ to a calm as
evening drew nigh. The first of the vesst^ls to strike; the
boom r(;boun<ls from the sli')ck and luns aground. Tlie
enemy, who liiK^d both shores in immense numbers, ))ly the
stranded vessel incessantly with guns, big and little, and,
certain of her ca[>ture, raise a shout of exultation. Mean-
while, the crew of the long boat are busy hewing and hack-
ing away at the boom with hatchets and cutlasses. Nor is
the stranded vessel idle. Discharging all her guns simul-
taneously on the landward side, the rebound S(;nds her again
in an instant into deep water. Rejoicing in her recovered
freedom, she proudly and (h^fiantly moves forward,
rushes upon tlui boom, and dashing through the oppos-
ing obstacle as if it were a thiead of gossamer, fol-
lowed quickly by her com[»anion, gallantly ploughs
her way towards the famishing city. By ten o'clock in
the evening of that memorabh? S.ibbath, the two vessels
cast anchor alongside the little ([uay that stretched out into
the river at Ship (|uay gate. No language could describe, no
arithmetic calculate the joy that tilled the hearts and lighted
up the wan and wasted features of tlu; thousands that yet
survived in Derry in this hour of trium[)h. During the
entire day, they had watched with feverish anxiety the
movements of the relieving vessels, their hopc^s and fears
108 IMIKSHYTKIUAN CHUIICH IN IKKLANU.
alternMt«'ly provjiiling ; but now their fears ure all gone, and
tlunr Ix'st h()|K\s more than rtializcid, tii(^ long weary we(?k.s of
pi-ivation and HuH'ei-ing are endcul ; tln^ gloom that ov(!r-
shadoweil tluiii' bosoms when the <lav be^^an has sunk
in an ocean of joy at its close ; the great object for
wliich they had striigi^h'd with heroic fortitude is accom-
plished ; Derry is savcMl, and with it the leligion and liber-
ties of their country.
With tlie reli(!f of Derry, tlu^ enemy lost all hope of cap-
turing the city. On the following Monday and Tuesday
they continued th(j attack, but uu Wednesday they took
thinr (hiparture in full retieat for Dublin. On the same
day, the brave Enniskilleners won one of the most brilliant
victories of the whole war, routing at Newtonbutler an army
of six thousand with a force hardly the one-third of their
numbers, slaying two thousand, and taking between four
and five hundred prisoners, including the General and num-
erous inferior officers.
Nothing did so much damage to the city as the bombs
which were cast into it night and day. These dreaded
missiles, some of which weighed over 270 pounds and car-
ried IG pounds of powder, exploding as they fell, played
havoc with everything h\ their immediate neighbourhood,
slaying men, ploughing up streets, knocking down houses.
One fell in the churchyard, turning five corpses out of
their graves, and throwing one of them over the surround-
ing wall Eighty only of the garrison were killed in battle;
but the mortality by wounds, exposure, hunger, and disease,
was immeasurably greater. When the siege closed, the
7,000 men, who formed the garrison when it began, were
reduced to 4,300, of whom only one-fourth was fit for
service. The mortality among the non-combatants was
greater still, for, in the 105 days during which the siege
Uisted, there peiished in the city ten thousand pei*sons,
FUEliDOM'8 UATTLE. IGO
Whoii Derry was rolicvod ;ilmost the wliolf of Ireland was
in the posHession of the Jacobite forces. In the north, Kn-
nisivilhMi aiiid the Afaiden (^'ity wore the only |>hic(!.s of impor-
tance in the hands of th(; Willianiites. Happily, this state
of thin<,'s was not to be of long continnance. On Mond;iy,
the 13th of August, a fleet from Enghmd of nearly one hun-
dred sail, with ten thousand hors(5 and foot, under the com-
mand of Duke Schomhcrg, anchored in Bangor Hay, on
the coast of County Down. In less tlum a fort-
night afterwards, almost the whole of Ulster was re-
covered ; (Miarhiinont was the only phice in the province
that continued to hold a Jacohiie garrison. Still greater
events wore close at hand. William himself was about to
take part in the struggle. By birth, and education, and
])rofe8sion a Presbyterian, he sympathized strongly with the
suffering Protestants of Ireland, and took the earliest oppor-
tunity of going in person to their relief. He had landed in
England on the 5tli of November, 1688 ; he had entered St.
James's Palace, London, on the 18th of the following Decem-
ber ; and now ho was about to go to Ireland to claim and
enforce his sovereignty over that part of the Empire. He
set out on his high mission in June, accompanied by a fleet
of nearly 700 vessels, and landed at Carrickfergus, on the
14th of the month. The stone on which he first set foot is
still pointed out as an enduring memorial of the event. As
he went, to use his own expression, '* not to let the grass
grow under his feet," he proceeded to Belfast the very day
he landed, where he received a deputation of Presbyterian
ministers who presented him with a loyal address. The
next day found him at Hillsborough, where he issued the
celebrated order to Christoi)her Carleton, Collector of Cus-
toms at Belfast, authorizing him to pay £1,200 per annum^
to the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, " being
assured," as he said, " of their constant labour to uuite the
170 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
hearts of otliors in tlioir zeal and loyalty towards iis."
From Hillsborougli he proceeded to Louglibrickland, wliere
he joined his arirv, now amounting to 3(),000 men. Moving
sou til ward, he reached the banks of the Boyne, on the 30th
of June, and, on tlie following day, Sunday, the first of
July, old style, he encountered the Irish army with King
James at its head, and fought the memorable battle which
will be known throughout all time as the event that placed
the Protestant interest of the three kingdoms on a ti) ni and
secure foundation. Still moving southward, he reached
Dublin, on the following Saturday, to learn on his arrival
that James, desjiairing of success in Ireland, had fled to
France. C)n the IVIonday after he was presented with an
address by the Episcopal clergy, who, with an easy versatility
that was stiongly suggestive of gross want of principle and
shameless time-serving, presented him with an address
brimful of the most ardent loyalty, though a ff;w days before
they had a))proached King James with no less fervent ex-
pressions of devotion to his person and cause.
William did not remain long in the Cai)ital. Still moving
southward and marching by Kilkenny he took possession
of Waterford. From thence he proceeded to Limerick, the
chief Jacobite sLronirhold in the south. Encounterinij; here a
more serious and lengthened opposition than he anticipated,
he raised the siege on the last day of August, and returned
to England, leaving the army in the command of Baron
Ginkell, and entrusting the government of the country to
three Lords-justices, one of whom, Thomas Coningsby, had
stood by him at the Boyne, and staunched a wound he
received, when, in prei)aration for tiie battle, he was recon-
noitering the enemy's position. Ginkell, having leceived
large reinforcements, took the field early in th(^ following
summer. In a short time lis reduced Athlone, and, on the
1 2th of July, fought the bn,ttie that gave the final over-
/
freedom's battle. 171
tlirovv to tho Jacobito povve)- in Ireland, Tho Irish had
concenti'atod tlieir forces on the hill of Aghrim, five miles
from Balli.iasloe, in the County of Clalway, determined to
make a last bold stand for their nationality. They were com-
manded by Saint Ruth, a distingnislied French general, and
an ardent Romanist. Every means that could arouse their
religious enthusiasm and warlike ardour was employed.
The battle was ki^enly contested on both sides. Once Saint
Ruth deemed the day his own, but in the very moment of
his pi'ematuro exultation, a cannon ball struck his head from
his shoidders. The Irish, discouraged and disconcerted by
the fall of their commander, lost heart and fled in disorder
and dismay, leaving 7,000 of their number dead on tho
battle-field. With the surrender of Limerick, which speedily
followed, tho last act in tho drama was played ; James's
})Ower in Ireland was com})letely extinguished, William's
sovereignty universally established, and Ireland laid a second
time a conquered country at the feet of England.
James stayed but a short time with his army before Derry.
Accomi)anied by Rosen he left the cam}) for Dublin, and on
the 29th of April reached the Capital where he had summoned
a parliament to meet him on the 7th of May. Every effort
had been made to secure the return of members thoroughly
devoted to Jacobite interests. This was accomplished with-
out much difliculty as the country was ahuost entirely in
the hands of the Romanists who did not hesitate to resort to
the most arbitrary |)roceedings. Of the thirty-six members
who attended the House of Lords, only nine were Protestants
— four bishops and five j)eers. The House of Commons was
still more decidedly Romish : of the two hundred and thirty
members who were sent up only six were Protestants. The
general tenor of the legislation that followed may be easily
anticipated. The autlioiity of the English parliament
as the Su[>reun5 Court of Ai)[)eal was abrogated. The
Acts of Settlement and Explanation were repealed,
172 IMlKHItYTKKIAN CHIJIUJII IN IRKLANI).
and inost of tlici ImikUmI property of tJics country trans-
ferred from Protcistant to Koniisli j)r(>pii(!torH j the fjreat(!r
part of tlie tithes was taken from th(! Piot(!Htant and •^iveri
to the liomisli ch'r;^y ; Ixitween two and tlir(;e thousand
persons, including peters, baronets, knights, chirgy, gentry,
and yeomanry, werci dechired guilty of high treason, unhiss
they surrendered within a certain assigned period. At tlie
same time, James, to supply his empty coffers with irionc^y,
had the bas(!st metals coined into current coin of the realm,
the acceptance} of which, at its nominal valiu;, was enforced
by sev(!r(! pains and p(!nalties.
From the beginning of the year 16 S7, wIhju James's
declaration for liberty of worship was published, the minis-
ters of the Presbyterian Chui'ch suflei(;d no mohistation from
the IFigh (Church [)arty, wIkj fiilt tin; necessity of laying
aside ecclesiastical diflcniuces and uniting with their Pres-
})yterian lirethren for mutual def<;nce and for the prot(!Ction
of their common Prot(!stantism. Episcopalian and Presby-
terian joined liands, and moved shoulder to should(;r in
hearty and (larnest co operation ; and it is to their cordial
union and close alliance that the [)r(!sent fiee prot(!stant in-
stitutions of the countiy are hirg«!ly due.
During; the commotions which existed all over Ulster in
the wint(!r of 1G88 ami the following summ(;r, the chuiches
and the country sMffen^l gr(!atly. The [)eople were scat-
tered far and wide, and those of them that still
clung to their homes wfno reduced to a condition bordei-
ing on beggary. In many districts the houses were in
ruins and the fields lay untilled. Th(! church(;s, for the
most part, were either V>urned or pulled down, an<l
public wor.diip almost entinily suspend(jd. The minis-
ters of the Presbyterian (Jhuich, Ixiing j)eculiarly ob-
noxious to the K(jmish autli(»riti<!S on account of their
declared syinpathy with the cause of William, wiae, in many
prkkdom's battlr. 173
iiist/!iii<;(!S, ()l»liL^(!(l to ;il)iin<loii tluiii' conm'figiitions jind to iUni
to S(!otlMTi<l, wlidn-, iiKoii s(iVoi}il fonn(!i- occasions, tluiy found
a cordial w(;lconi(! and a saf(! asylum. Hut from the titno
that Schomborg lauded at Canickforgus, trancjuillity was, in
a great measure, restored, an<l, in cons(!(ju(!nce, the
country began to assume a more; i)leasing asjiect. De-
serted and [»Iunder(Ml homes were re-occupied ; houses
and church edifices that had Ixicui laid in ruins were rebuilt,
public worship was re-establish<!d ; the; t)rdinary pursuits of
life wfue resumed ; the unicaped harv(!sts wen; gathenjd in,
and an air of rejoicing hopefulnciss sprcjad over tin; land.
T]i(i Pr(\sbyt(;rian (Jiiurch, encourag(!d by the progress of
William's ai-ms, the establishment of his authoi'ity thi'ough-
out the kingdom, his giacious assurance; of jirotection aiul
toleration, and tin; pecuniary endowrrKiut he had willingly
granted to hav ch;rgy, gave; h(;rs(;lf to the woik of recon-
stiuction with accustonuid (;n<,'rgy. Sev(!ral of her ministers
who had fled to Scotland gradually returned, and, together
with tho.se who had contrived to remain in the country,
gave themselves zealously to their a})[)ro[)riate duties.
Pastoial work was resumed ; nujetings of Presbyt(;ries were
held, and order taken for re-occuj)ying th(! waste places of
the fi(dd. In a few years, .she had become strongcir and more
vigorous than at any formcM- [)eriod in h{;r history. H(5r
adherents constitut(;d the; larg(;st portion by far of the Pro-
testant [)Opulation of tin; province. Tin; sixty congrega-
tions that existed at the ilestoriition had increased to one
hundred, of which about eighty \v(!r(; providcid with pastors
when the war of tlu; revolution brok*; out. Thes(; congr(,'ga-
tions were associated in five Prcisbyterics, und<!r one General
Synod which, instead of meeting annually as originally in-
t«;nd(;d, from the hostility of the govcsmnuint and the opposi-
tion of the prelates of the Establishment, had not met for the
last thirty years. ,
174 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Under tiio friondly govo-miKiiit of William, mutitings of
the Geuei'cvl Synod wore now njsuiiicd. Th<; liist was hold
at Belfast, on the 8th of Se[)teniber, IGliU. Tiie minutes of
this meeting have been lost, hut from otiiei* soui'cos we are
able to state that its ])roc(!edings relatiul cliicifly to connxiting
calls froni vacant congregations to th(! same ininisttn-, the
ap[)ointment of charitable collections for the n^lief of those
whom the war had impoveiished, and tin; leturn to their
respective charges of those; brethren who had fl(Ml to Scot-
land. No less than fifty bad sought icifiige in that land,
and of these at least one-half had s(;ttl(Ml in parishes
conn(!Cted with the Established Church and refused to
return.
The next meeting of the General Synod was lield in
Belfast, on the 8th of April, 1(191 ; but the record of its
proceedings has also ])ecn lost. It was followed in the
autumn of the same yeai" by another meeting held at Antrim,
and attended by thirty-two ministers and twenty-one elders.
, The principal Vnisiness that engaged the attention of this
meeting was the erection of new congregatior?} and the
settlement of ministers. This is the lirst Synod whose
minutes are extant, but it is only from the year 16U7 that
the minutes exist in unbroken succession till the present
time. From 1693, the meetings were lield annually in the
month of June.
The relation of the law to Irish Presbyterians, at tliis
time, was extremely unsatisfactory. Their worship and dis-
cipline and meetings of their churcli courts were under
a ban, and the laws prohibiting them might at any time
be enforced. Their chief })rotection lay in the favour of
William, their warm and constant friend. As long as he
was on the throne no serious interference with their reli-
gious freedom was to be apprehended. The [)rinciplo of
toleration may be said to have l)een hereditary ; i his family.
freedom's hattle. 175
Ifi.s fifrcat-i^'riiiKlfiitliri-, WilliMin t\\^^ Silc^nt, tlie fouridc!!' of
tli{3 n;itavi;iii K(!)ml)lic, was " the; Mrst priiicri in Kiii'0|)(3 who
avowed and practised tlui j)riucij)les of tolcMatioii wliicli Ho
at tlic t'oimdation of all relii^ious freodoin." His wife, Mary,
thougli a Stuart, and a daughtor of J aniens [[., was of a
charactor as high and exaltod as his own. H(^ was hy birth
and oai'ly niligioiis training, as already lecorded, a Presby
terian, and so strongly attached to the Calvinism which hrts
always forincnl a distinguishing olonient in the creed of the
Presbyterian (■liurch that he was wont to declare that if he
were to abandon its tencsts, he must abandon with them all
belief in a su[)erintentling Providence. His accession to tlie
throne was tin; means of conferring lasting benefits of incal-
culable value on each of the throe kingdoms. Those that
directly reLit(i to religion alone claim our attention. In
Scotland, it j)ut an end to the terrible persecutions that
during the previous twenty-eight yeai-s had crimsoned the
heathei of its hills with the blood of the noblest and best of
its children, and placed the Presby terianism that has always
been strongly entrenched in the intelligence and affections of
its peoj)le on a firm and enduring basis. In England and in
Ireland, it was no less beneficial, and would have been much
more beneficial than it really was had it not been that
the desires of the sovereign were often and in several import-
ant matters thwarted by the bigotry and intolerance of the
E[)isco[)at(!. William was far in advance of his age, and
entertaiiKid the broadest and most liberal ^'iews of toleration.
He sought to imbue the clergy of the Established Church in
both countries with his own generous spirit. He even en-
deavoured to })rocure such changes in the formularies and
government of tiie Established Church as would enable non-
conformists to entei" its pale with a good conscience ; but the
si)irit of intolenint Episco[)acy was too strong even for him.
All that ho could do was to hold its persecuting tendency in
176 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
check and, so far as Ireland was concerned, there arose
frequent occasion for Iiis restraining liand. For several
years past, the E[)isco|)alian and the Presbyterian
had heartily united in the successful defence of their
lives and their religion, but now that the danger was
over, the Episcopal clergy began to manifest their ancient
hostility against the Presbyterians. In 1692, a Pres-
byterian minister in County Down, at the inr^tigation
of an Episcopal clergyman, was cast into })rison for no otlier
offence than daring to Iiold a Presbyterian service in the
parish of which he was the incumbent. On an appeal to
the Lords-justices, at Dublin, the imprisoned clergyman
was immediately released and his intolerant Episcopal
brother instructed to forbear such prosecutions in future.
From the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth the oath
of supremacy was in force in Ireland. No Presbyterian
could conscientiously take such an oath ; and had it been
enforced, no Presbyterian could have held any office under
the crown. By the connivance of the government it had
been allowed for some time to remain a dead letter on the
statute book. Now, to prevent the contingency of its being
enforced under a less favourable administration, at William's
suggestion, it was abolished, and the oath of fidelity and
allegiance, which no loyal subject could justly refuse, was
substituted in its stead.
The law in relation to non-conformity in Ireland presented
at this time a curious contrast to a similar law in England.
In England, the worship of the non-conformist was legalized,
but he himself could hold no office under the crown un-
less he qualified for it by communicating in his parish
church. In Ireland, the case was reversed. The non-
conformist was eligible to all public offices, but his worship
was prohibited under penalties the severity of which may
be learned from the fact that every Presbyterian minister
frkrdom's rattlk. 177
who davod to dispense the Lord's Supper rendered liimself
liable to a tine of one hundred pounds. It was the desire of
William that all such disabilities should be abolished, that
the utmost freedom of worship should be allowed, and that
all his Protestant subjects alike should be at full liberty to
serve their king and country. But, being a constitutional
monarch, and obliged to govern in accordance with law, his
wishes were often disregarded. Unhappily tlie majority cf
those who had the making of the laws in their hands did not
share with him in his liberal and tolerant views. In Ireland,
this was, particularly, the case. The bishops of the Estab-
lished Church were bent on extinguishing non-conformity,
and as they were supreme in the House of Lords and could
always command a majority in the House of Commons, they
were able to make their baneful influence powerfully felt.
At a time when the condition of their own church was such
as to demand all their attention — when the state of things
within their own communion was so scandalous that Queen
Mary in writing to her husband a few days after the battle
of the Boyne could say, "Take care of the Church of Ire-
land ; every body agrees that it is the worst in Christendom "
— at such a time, instead of giving attention to their proper
work, and seeking to effect the much needed reformation with-
in their several dioceses, they acted as if their chief business
were to sweep every trace of Presbyterian ism out 'f the
country. They forgot that i he Presbyterian had been but late-
ly their most valued ally, and that had it not been for his sea-
sonable and effective aid they might have been at that very
time languishing in a prison, or in exile from their native
shores. They obstinately opposed the passage of a bill for
legalizing his worship. They endeavoured to procure the
withdrawal of the Regium Donum from the ministers of his
church, who, if loyalty to the sovereign, the promotion of the
best interests of the country, and eminent services to the
n
178 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
cause of n;lij^ion, wore iiuulo tho test of nu!iit, could pro-
sent claiius to [)ublic recognition that far outstripped their
own. They embraced every opportunity of harassin*^ him
that tlie hiw as it stood gave them. They branded him as a
fornicator and his children as bastards, if he sought marriage
within Ids own church. They dragged liiuj and hia min-
ister too who '(hired to marry him into their courts, and
under the sanction of a most obnoxious and oppressive law,
mulcted botli in a heavy fine.
A few instances of the active intolerance of the Episcopal
clergy as it revealed itself at this j)eriod, and we close
this long chai)ter.
In the year lG98,the Uev, John McBride, Presbyterian min-
ister of Belfast, was summond to Dublin, at the instigation of
Walkington, bishoj) of Down and Connor, and arraigned be-
fore the Lords-justices, because he had the unpardonable pre-
sumption to assert in a sermon preached at the annual meeting
of the Synod of Ulster, held at Antrim, that the right of self-
government is inherent in the Christian Church, instancing
the case of the Apostolic synod at Jerusalem, which assembled
without any authority from the civil })Ower. Towards the
close of the same year, the Rev. William Biggar, of Limerick,
was arrested and thrust into prison for no other offence than
I)reaching, at their urgent request, to a few Presbyterian
families in Gal way. Three years afterwards, the Rev. J.
Richardson, rector of the parish of Cookstown, Co. Tyrone,
actually nailed up the doors of th(; Presbyterian church, to
prevent the very people who had erected it from worshipping
within its v/alls, on the alleged but groundless plea that it
was built on his property. It is pleasant to relate that this
violent proceeding of the intolerant rector proved but an im-
potent ebullition of i)etty malice. Mrs. Stewart, of Killymoon,
a noble Presbyterian lady, resident in the neighbourhood,
erected forthwith a church within her own demesne for the
frekdom's battle. 179
U8e of tlio ousted c jngrogatioii, and so spoedily did the walls
rise iiiidor hor inspiring superintondonco that witliin throe
weeks it was ready for occupation.
The object of all such tryrannical i)roceeding8 is easily
discerned. It was hoped that, under such vexatious and
harassing treatment, Presbyterianism would languish and
eventually j)erish, leaving the K[»i.scopal Church, as far as
Protestantism was concerned, in undisputed possession of the
field. But the hope was sorely disappointed. Prebb; -
terianism possessed a vitality that the most malignant
efforts of High Church intolerance were powerhjss to destroy
Like a well-known plant in our gardens, the more it was
trampled on the moi-e it grew. It flourished amid the storm.
It stuck its roots more deeply into the soil. It shot forth its
branches throughout Ulster. It made its influence felt in
every corner of the Province. It enriched its hills and
dales with a wealth of intelligence, aiid industry, and
sobriety, which succeeding years as they rolled by only aug-
mented. It poured its living streams i/ito the other Provinces
of the Kingdom, and thus proclaimed its solemn pur[)Ose to
labour for Ireland's good till the whole island, redeemed,
regenerated, disenthi-alled by the power of the gospel, shall
be laid as a proud trophy at the feet of Immanuel.
180 PKKSHYTKIUAN CHUUCH rN fKKLAND.
CHAPTER X.
THE HEIGN OF QI'KEN ANNK
Death of VVilli.ini Ai^ocssioti of Anne - Kiiitr, liiMhoj) of Dirrv and the AV'/mm
JJiiniim -VnHHinn of tho Tost Act Coii'JeiiucriceH I'risati.sfiictory j)OHition of
Pre Hl)yt»;riaiiH liefore the law Preshyterian noii jurors — Work of intolerance
and opitression jfoea on — PreHi)yterian seek the removal of the indijjrnitien
heaped upon them Their unHwervinj,' loyality— Their niiniHtern ahle and
learned -VVantinj,' in men of hi^'hwoeial juwition — Growth of the Church— Laws
to secure an efficient, learned, and sound niinistry — Error shows itself— A time
of declension sets in— A(!ces8ion of Geor),'e I. Jtrgimn iJonuin restored and
increased — Toleration Act i)assed -The Church in her home mission work-
Gloomy forebodings of the Ilij^h Church party — The Covenanters.
WILLIAM III. died, in consequence of a fall from
liis horse, on the 8th of March, 1702. His death
was a serious blow to the cause of toleration, and
to the interests of the Presbyterian Church in Ire-
land. It deprived her of a warm, constant, and powerful
fiiend, and opened the door to an outburst of Episcopal in-
tolerance worthy of the days of Laud and Strafford.
According to the Revolution Settlement, William was
succeeded by Anne, a sister of his wife Mary, and the
last of the Stuarts. The new sovereign allowed herself
to be controlled entirely by the High Church party, and,
in consequence, the twelve years of her reign form a
gloomy chapter in the history of the Irish Presbyterian
Church. As soon as King, bishop of Derry, one of the
most influential and malignant of the party in Ireland,
heard of the king's death, he endeavored to move the
Government either to withdraw the grant of Royal Bounty
altogether, or, if continued, to distribute it in the way best
fitted to promote the political subserviency of the recipients,
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 181
arnl to croiito divisions utnoiii^ tlu-rn. " Ff it be tlioiij^lit fit,"
Hiiid ho, "to coiitimu! tho fund totlifMu, tlio ijovoriiTnoiit oiii^lit
to k(!Oj. tlie disposiil of it in tluur own Imnds, and encourage
those only by it that comply as they ivonld have them. By
which means, ovc^ry j>articuhir niinistor ivonld be at their
mercy ; and it nuj^ht ho so nianai,'('d as to he an instrument
of division and jea/onsy amongst them." Tliough tho l)isho|)
failed at the time to induce the GovernnK^nt to acci'pt his
hase and unchristian sugg(!stion, h(; did not ahatidon the
ertbi't. Tn th(5 followin*^ y<*ii'', th(^ House of Oonnnons,
in which his partisans constitut(5(l the ov<^rwli(dniing majority,
passed a resohition declaring that thi; pension of twelve
hundred pounds jx^r iinnnni, gi-anted to Presbyterian ministers
in Ulster, is an unnecessary branch of the establishment.
In the year 1711, the House of Lords passed a similar resolu-
tion, and in the same year the Convocation of the Clergy —
the last meeting of the kind that has been permitted to be
held in Ireland — was prompt to follow the example. There
can be little doubt that had the Queen lived only a little
longer, the obnoxious grant would have been abolished ; but
the accession of the House of Hanover that followed her
sudden demise in 1714 restored, in a large measure, the tol-
erant and liberal spirit of William's reign, and put an
end to the baneful ascendency of the High Church party.
Not content with endeavouring to secure the withdrawal
of the Royal bounty from the Presbyterian ministers, which
gave to each of them the paltry pittance of j£12 a year ; not
content with questioning the validity of their marriages, and
with subjecting those of their people whom they dared to
marry to insulting, protracted and expensive lawsuits in the
Bishops' Courts, the High Church party secured the passage
through parliament of a Bill providing that every pei-son hold-
ing any office, civil or military, under the crown, must
qualify for the position by partaking of the sacrament of
182 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
•
the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the Established
Church. The intention obvioTisly was to make the profes-
sion of Presbyterianism a degrading humiliation to its adher-
ents, and especially to induce the more opulent and influen-
tial of its members to seek refuge from the disabilities
it involved in the bosom of the Establishment. But their
malevolent artifice bore little of the desired fruit. The
dignities and emoluments of office are no light thing, to be
easily and readily abandoned. It is not surprising, therefore,
that "some of the baser sort" yielded to the temptation, and
for the sake of office conformed to the Established woi-ship.
The overwhelming majority, however, were men of a nobler
mould, and refused to sacrifice their religious convictions
for wordly gain. Officers in the army and navy, justices
of the peace, mayors of corporate tovms, and all else holding
public positions, with few exceptions, chose rather to relin-
quish the offices they held than make a sacrifice of their
religious principles. In Belfast, the majority of the members
of the corporation were Presbyterians, and were consequently
superseded by Episcopalians. In Derry, ten out of twelve
aldermen, and fourteen out of twenty-four burgesses, were
turned out of their offices. Many of these very individuals
had taken an active part in the memorable siege, and now
the Government, whose very existence was largely due to their
self-sacrificing valour and heroic endurance, thrust them out
from the service of a city they had defended with their blood
and treasure, for no other offi^nce than refusing to abandon
their church for rewards of a purely secular character.
The position of Presbyterians before the law was now as
degrading as High Church bigotry and malevolence could
well make it. Their worship and discipline were under the
ban of the law; no legal toleration for either existed; they
themselves were declared incapable of serving the crown
and the country in the humblest capacity, unless they were
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 183
ready to make sliii>wreck of a good coiiscienco. Tliougli they
formed at least the one half of the Protestant population of
the country, and throughout all their history had evinced their
unshaken loyalty by eminent services, it was not till the year
1719, and in the face of the most strenuous opposition from
the High Church oligarchy, that a Toleration Act was passed,
and a bare permission granted them by law to celebrate their
worship. The disabilities the Test Act imposed were still
perpetuated, and it was not till the year 1782 that this in-
famous Act was abolished, which placed — to quote their own
just description of it in an address to Queen Anne — " An
odious mark of infamy on, at least, the one half of the Pro-
te^>tants of this kingdom, whose, early, active and successful
zeal for the late happy revolution gave the hope that they
would not have been rendered incapable of serving your
Majesty and the country."
An Act of parliament was passed in 1702 which required
all persons in ecclesiastical or civil offices, and all preachers
and teachers of separate congregations, to take the Abjura-
tion oath, by which it was declared that the Pretender, that
is, the son of the late James II,, had no right or title to the
crown. Of the one hundred and twenty or one hundred and
thirty Presbyterian ministers now in Ireland, all with the
exception of six readily took the oath. Those who refused,
subsequently known as the Presbyterian non-jurors, were as
strongly attached to the principles of the late Revolution as
tlie rest of their brethren, but they refused to take the oath
because it bound them, as they conceived, to swear that the
Pretender was not the son of his reputed father, an alleged
fact of which they did not profess to be assured. Their re-
fusal was an unfortunate occurrence. It was doubtless the
act of honest conscientious, men, but it gave their enemies
of the High Church party a pretext for charging the whole
Presbyterian body with disloyalty, and for continuing to in-
184 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
suit and o[)pi'ess them. It, moreover, introduced an element
of discord into tlie church, and exposed themselves to serious
trouble. Three of them were compelled to seek safety in
fliglit from the country, and one of them was thrown into
prison, fined at the next assizes in X500, ordered to be ini
j)risoned for six months, and then to take the oath. It
was two years and a half before he was released from
confinement.
During the whole of this Queen's reign, the work of in-
tolerance and repi'ession went on apace. It was not enough
that the Presbyterians were refused a legal toleration for
their worship ; it was not enough that tliey were declared in-
eligible to serve their sovereign and country, unless they were
ready to surrender their religious convictions for the spoils
of office ; it was not enough that they were subjected to in-
sulting and offensive litigation in the Bishops' Courts for the
unpardonable crime of being married by their own ministei-s ;
something more must be done to brand their name and creed
with reproach. According to the Irish Act of uniformity,
" every schoolmaster keeping any public or private school "
was required to promise conformity to the Established
Church, but as no provision had been made for enforcing
this part of the Act, a clause was introduced into the Schism
bill for England, extending its operation to Ireland, by which
the defect was supplied. According to the provisions of this
iniquitous bill, every Presbyterian who ventured to teach a
school, except of the very humblest description, rendered
himself liable to imprisonment for three months. Nor was
this all ; every Presbyterian house of worship might be at any
moment forcibly closed. Encouraged by such decided acts of
hostility on the part of the Government, the ruling classes ex-
ercised the power their positions gave them to harass Presby-
terians. Bishops, in letting the ecclesiastical property they
controlled, inserted clauses in thair leases prohibiting under
THE REIGN OP QUEEN ANNE. 186
severe penalties the granting of a site for a Presbyterian
church, or the letting of a farm to a Presbyterian tenant.
They also induced many great landowners to follow the ex-
ample. The power of the press was employed to hold them
up to public contempt and scorn. The celebrated Jonathan
Swift did not scruple to prostitute his great talents to the
undignified task. Dormant statutes were put into force to
oppress them. Proceedingp j^ law were taken against one of
their ministers who had been sent by the Synod to give tem-
porary supply of preaching to the Presbyterians at Drogheda,
and another who followed him was arrested and committed to
gaol for three months. At the instigation of the Episcopal
clergy of the locality, the Presbytery of Monaghan were
arrested and indicted for holding an unlawful and riotous as-
sembly, because they had the audacity to meet in the little
town of Belturbet, County Cavan, at the request of the Pres-
byterian inhabitants of the place, to deliberate respecting the
formation of a new congregation and the erection of a church
for its use. Their catechisms and other religious books were
seized when exposed for sale, and in several instances their
churches were actually nailed up to prevent service being
held in them. How far further the intolerant spirit of the
dominant party would have carried them, or how much longer
the Presbyterian people would have borne with their injustice
and tyranny, it is idle to enquire. It is enough to say that
the violent and intolerable proceedings of the prelatic faction
were suddenly checked by the unexpected death of the Queen,
who breathed her last on the first of August, the very day on
which the infamous Schism Act was to have come into opera-
tion. A new dynasty succeeded to the throne, prepared to
concede to the Presbyterians of Ireland their just rights and
privileges.
It is not to be imagined that the Presbyterians submitted
to all these insulting indignities in cowardly silence. In
186 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
every legitihiate {in<l constitutional way they sought tlieir
removal. They justly legarrled them as an intolerable
grievance, and the feeling derived intensity from the
consciousness that theie was no party in the common-
wealth, po portion of the great body of the people, who
deserved better treatment at the hands of the Stixte than
themselves. By their active zeal and heroic struggles they
had contributed largely to the successful accomplishment of
the Revolution Settlement, by which the Protestant insti-
tutions of the country had been placed on a tirm and enduring
basis. There was not a disloyal man in their ranks. Whilst
many of the faction, who were indefatigable in their efforts
to crush them out of existence, gave countenance and en-
couragement to the movement that was on foot among the
Tory party in England to secure the return of the expelled
dynasty to the throne, they stood to a man with unflinching
allegiance by the happy Revolution Settlement, prepared
to defend and preserve it with the same zeal and fortitude
they had brought to the task of its accomplishment.
Nor had their services to the cause of true religion been less
real and less distinguished. In the warfare with Romish
error and superstition, and in the maintenance and difl*usion of
Scriptural truth, as well as in the promotion of the best moral
interests of the country, they had always borne a leading
part. It is only a just tribute to their worth to say that
most of the genuine living protestantism that existed in the
land was to be found within their communion. In the
ranks of their clergy they could count not a few men, who,
in the field of keen debate and learned discussion, were
more than a match for the most noted of their assailants.
The works of McBride, of Belfast, Kirkpatrick, of Temple-
patrick, Craghead of Demy, Boyse, of Dublin, and others,
still exist to attest to the energy and success with which
the bitterest attacks of the most powerful of their antagonists
THE REIGN OF QUERN ANNE. 187
were met and repelled. But with all the wealth of talent
and scholarship that enriched and adorned their ranks, they
were sadly wanting in men of high social standing, whose
commanding influence woukl have made itself felt in the
counsels of the realm. The great majority of the Protestant
peasantry of Ulster, a large proportion of the mercantile
community, and a few landed j)roprietors, were Presby-
terians, but almost the whole of those who held high social
and official positions were connected with the Established
church. To estimate aright the relative influence; of the
different classes of society at the time, it must be re-
membered that politically the })ower of the people as yet
amounted to very little. Feudalism in its outward form had
ceased to exist, but its s})ii-it was still rampant. The great
landed proprietors controlled the entire legislation of the
country, and, as these, in their turn, were controlled by the
bishops of the Establishment, who always formed the working
majority in the House of Lords, it is easy to see that the
Presbyterians were certain to receive but scant consideration
in the halls of legislation, especially when it is also
remembered that they could seldom count more than half a
dozen members in a House of Commons including between
two and three hundred. Times are changed. Liberty is in
the ascendant. Neither bishops nor landowners now wield
the power they then exercised ; but the spirit of intolerance
never dies, and, like the smouldering tire or the sleeping
volcano, is sure to make its presence known at times.
Hardly less than thirty years ago, a Presbyterian minister
was dragged into the ecclesiastical courts, and fined in seven
hundred pounds for unwittingly violating the law, by a
slight act of indiscretion at a vestry meeting in a parish in
County Down. —
Notwithstanding the attempts that were made to sweep
the Presbyterian Church out of existence, she continued to
188 PRESBYTERtAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
grow in numbers and influence. Fn 1061, lior congregations
numbered sixty-one, and when William came to the throne,
they had grown into one hundred, comprehended in five
Presbyteries, and one general Synod. At the death of Queen
Anne they had still further increased, and grown into one
hundred and forty, embraced in eleven Presbyteries. This
marked increase bears witness to the futility of the efforts
of the High Church party to effect her extermination, and
the unyielding firmness with which the thousands and tens
of thousands of her loyal and loving children clung to her
creed and polity. Though she ex[)erienced a difficulty in
providing the constantly growing number of her congrega-
tions with adequate spiritual oversight, she continued care-
fully to guard the door of entrance to her ministry against
the admission of men either insufficiently educated or unsound
in the faith. The Synod of 1698 passed two important enact-
ments, which were only a more specific declaration of exist-
ing regulations. The first ordered that none should be taken
on trial for license who had not spent four years in the
study of divinity, after having completed the required course
in philosophy. The second decreed that no young man should
be licensed to preach the gospel unless " he subscribe the
Confession of faith in all the articles thereof, as the confession
of his faith." By such means ihe church sought to guard
her pulpits against the taint of heresy, and to supply her
congregations with an able and efficient ministry. As
yet no departure from her creed had made itself manifest
among her clergy, and when one of them the Rev. Thomas
Emlyu, pastor of the Wood Street congregation, Dublin,
avowed himself an Arian, he was immediately deposed from
the ministry as "holding a doctrine which struck at the
foundation of Christianity, and was of too dangerous a con-
sequence to be tolerated among them." Unhappily, the
church did not continue to be sufficiently careful to enforce
THE REION OF QUEEN ANNE. 189
hev own lawn; tlie conseqiienco was, as we shall see further
on, that the error for wiiich Emlyn was deposed con-
tinued to spread till her very existence was seriously im-
periled. A long period of declension and deadness super-
vened : ciiid it was not till fully a fourth part of the present
century had jjassed away, that, by a return to the practice of
her earlier and purer days, she retrieved her lost position,
rallied around her in increasing ardour the loyal allegiance of
her still faithful children, and took the place she continues
to occupy as one of the purest and most vigorous of the
churches of evangelical Christendom.
During Bolingbroke's administration, which covered a
large part of Anne's reign, measures were secretly taken,
probably with the knowledge and concurrence of the
Queen, to secure the succession to her brother, the Pretender,
the son of James II. The Presbyterians were the only body
in Ireland that were united in supporting the Revolution
Settlement. The Synod, at its annual meeting in June,
1714, having learned that treasonable designs were on foot,
secretly arranged to ascertain how many of its people
were ready to take up arms to support the existing
dynasty, and the result showed that no less f-han fifty
thousand staunch Irish Presbyterians were prepared, at
any moment, to venture their all in such a noble enterprise.
To avoid suspicion, the Synod employed one of the French
Protestant ministers, of whom there was a considerable num-
ber in Ireland at the time, to carry the gratifying information
to his Highness, who received the intelligence " with many
thanks, and was very fond to hear there were so many staunch
friends to him in Ireland." The Komanists, to a man, were
in favour of the Pretender. A large section of the Episcopal
clergy, and many of the laity, were also ardent Jacob-
ites, But before the scheme was ripe for execution, the
190 PRESBYTEHIAN CHUKCH IN IRELAND.
Queen suddenly and unexpectedly died, and Greorge Louis,
Elector of Hanover, ascended the tlii'on ;, unopposed, under
the title of George I.
The Presbyterians hailed the accession of the new dynasty
with the liveliest satisfactioi., and lost no time in bringing
their claims before the King and his ministry, asking for
the repeal of the Test Act, full legal protection for their
woi-ship and polity, and the restoration and increase of
the Royal bounty. The promi)t attention given to their
petition evinced the friendly disposition of the new govern-
ment. The Regium Donum was at once restored, with
an addition shortly after of £800, making the total grant
£2,000 a year. Toleration was slower in coming, for though
the supremacy of the prelatic oligarchy was at an end for
ever, its power was still strong enough to thwart the liberal
intentions of the King and his ministers. But it came at last.
In 1719, an Act securing it was successfully carried through
Parliament, not, however, without the most strenuous
opposition from a majority of the bishops. The Test Act
still remained in force, and all efforts to secure its repeal
proved unavailing. The impolicy of such a law by which a
most important and loyal portion of the community was
excluded from the service of their sovereign and country
was soon made manifest. Though the sudden death of
Queen Anne had spoiled the plans of the Jacobite faction
for the restoration of the Pretender, they had not abandoned
the hope of ultimately effecting their design. In the year
immediately following the King's accession, they began to
bestir themselves in England, and confidential agents from
France were employed in providing for a rising both in
Scotland and Ireland. The Government, apprised of the
movement, took prompt measures for the security of the
Kingdom. One of the steps taken was to enrol every able-
bodied Protestant in Ulster. The Presbyterians constituted
THE REOIN OF QUEEN ANNE. 191
>)y far tho largest and most loyal portion of the Protestant
population of the province, and yet not one of them, in
consequence of the provisions of the Test Act, could engage
in the services of his country, in tliis time of danger, without
ex|K)sing himself to serious penalties. In the emergency,
their loyalty overrode every other consideration. A meeting
of the most influential laymen, and of the leading ministers
of the Presbyterian Church, was held at Belfast, at which
it was agreed to ofier to the government the services
of the whole Presbyterian body for the defence of the
country. The offer was gladly accepted, and assurance
given that as soon as Parliament assembled steps should be
taken to protect the Presbyterian officers and soldiers from
the penalties to which their loyalty and patriotiam should
expose them. The engagement of the Government was
promptly fulfilled. As soon as parliament met, a bill was
introduced to give it all the force of law, but so strenuous
was the opposition the Bill encountered in the House of Lords
from the bishops, headed by Archbishop King, whose
hostility to the Presbyterians seemed to grow with his years,
that the Government were reluctantly compelled to abandon
it. The House of Commons, who were almost unanimous
in its support, at once took steps to deprive its rejection of
all ill consequences, by passing two resolutions, one declaring
that the Dissenters who had been enrolled for the defence of
the country " had thereby rendered a seasonable service to
His Majesty's royal pei-son and government, and the pro-
testant interest of the Kingdom," and the other that " any
who shall commence a prosecution against any Dissenter who
has accepted or shall accept of a commission in the army or
militia is an enemy to King George and the Protestant
interest, and a friend of the Pretender."
During these exciting times, when the Presbyterians
were displaying the loftiest patriotism, in the face of insulting
192 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
and liuniiliating (Hsalnlitios, tlio clmrcli was not unmindful
of her nioro appropriate work. Wliilst engagtul in a laud-
able attempt, as we shall afterwards see, when we come to
spe-ik more particularly of her missionary o|)erations, to give
the gospel in their own tongue to the Roman Catholic popu-
lation of the island, she zealously endeavored to relieve the
spiritual destitution of her own scattered children. In 1714
she had no less than twenty new ly erected congregations on
her home mission list, towards the support of which she con-
tributed liberally in sums of varying magnitude. Her
activity and growing strength account to some extent for the
violent opposition she encountered from the prelatic faction.
When they contrasted the few that attended the parish
churches in Ulster with the multitudes that crowded the
Presbyterian meeting Iiouses, jealousy got the better of what-
ever sense and piety they possessed, and led them to cry out
that the church was in danger. With their wailing forebod-
ing there commingled a tone of bitter disappointment when
they saw on the throne one who, as a Lutheran, was not even
a prelatist, who had received only spurious sacraments from
an unauthorized ministry, and who, worst of all, had em-
braced the doctrine that Presbyterians were true Protestants
and entitled to public protection. One of the party, in a
half despairing mood, declared that they were preparing " the
people to expect nothing less than the total subversion of
the constitution, the destruction of the hierarchy, the aboli-
tion of the liturgy, and the setting up of Presbytery."
Archbishop King, in a letter to Archbishop Wake in 1719,
immediately after the passing of the Toleration Bill, made
use of language in which echoes of the same ludicrously
alarming apprehension may be easily discerned. " We shall
all feel the eflfect of it, and in truth, I cannot see how our
church can stand here, if God does not, by a peculiar and
unforeseen providence support it." Poor man ! His church
THE REION OF QIJEKN ANNE. I 93
must Imvo heon weak indpod, if toleration of the Presliyter-
ians threatened its downfall.
The intolerance of the prelatic faction was in one way
successful. It drove many of the hoMest and most resolute
of the Presbyterian population of Ulster out of the province.
When they saw that the most obnoxious of the griovancfs
of which they complained were still perpetuated, and that
the prospect of redress was daily becoming dimmer, they
resolved to seek refuge from insulting and intolerable tyranny
on the shores of the New World. '* Now, recommenced,"
says Froude, a distinguished living historian, " the Protestant
emigration which robbed Ireland of the bravest defenders of
English interests, and peopled the Araeri<;an seaboard with
fresh flights of i)uritans. Twenty thousand left Ulster on
the destruction of the woollen trade. Many more were driven
away by the first passing of the Test Act. The stream
had slackened in the hope that the law would be altered.
Wher the prospect was finally closed, men of spirit and
energy refused to remain in a country where they were held
unfit to receive the rights of citizens ; and thence forward,
until the spell of tyranny was broken in 1782, annual ship-
loads of families poured themselves out from Belfast and
Londonderry. The resentment they carried with them con-
tinued to burn in their new homes ; and in the War of In-
dependence, England had no fiercer enemies than the grand-
sons and the great grandsons of the Presbyterians who had
held Ulster against Tyrconnell." " The first public voice
in America for dissolving all connection with Great Britain,"
says Bancroft, " came, not from the Puritans of New Eng-
land, the Dutch of New York, nor the Planters of Virginia,
but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. They carried with
them to the new world the creed, the spirit of resistance, and
the courage of Covenantei*s." Well might Lord Mountjoy
say, in 1784, that "America was lost bv Irish emigrants."
13
194 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Hitlierto the church had been remarkably free from inter-
nal trouble. Ministers and people had walked together in
unbroken harmony, one in doctrine, worship and discipline.
The deposition of Emlyn, in 1703, proved unhappily the
precursor of a breach in the peaceable fellowship that had now
existed for fully a century, which was not to be healed till
another century had run its ample round of years.
In the early part of the eighteenth century, a latitudin-
arian spirit, promoted by the writings of such men as Dr.
Samuel Clarke, Hoadly and others, began to spread in Eng-
land and elsewhere. Error marches with a swift foot, It
•was not long till the same dangerous spirit made itself
manifest in Ireland, and found ready acceptance among
several of the younger ministers of the Presbyterian church,
who had formed themselves into a clerical club, called the
Belfast society, for the discussion of theological and other
topics. Some of these young clergymen were men of marked
ability. The Rev. John Abernethy, then of Antrim, after-
wards of Dublin, the leading member of the Society, was one
of the most distinguished controversialists of his day. His
work on " The Being and Attributes of God " shows that
to the possession of a powerful intellect he added the resources
of extensive reading and close studv. There is no clear
evidence that they rejected any of the doctrines of the
church, but the peculiar views and sentiments they pro-
pounded gave rise to the suspicion that at least some among
them sat loose to her Calvinistic creed. They made light of
mere doctrinal preaching; they insisted upon sincerity
as the chief test of christian discipleship ; they taught that
erroneous opinions were only hurtful when wilful ; and above
all, they inveighed vehemently against the law which requires
subscription to a creed or confession, as subveraive of the
right of private judgment and inconsistent with christian
liberty and true Protestantism. They came to be known as
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 195
the " New Light " party, and though numerically they
never acquired much strength, as they embraced in their
ranks several of the ablest men in the synod, their in-
fluence was out of all proportion to their number. The
controversy they provoked was long and bitter. No fewer
than fifty publications of various sizes were issued in
connection with it. In the end, in 1726, twelve ministers
with their flocks, constituting what was called the
Presbytery of Antrim, were excluded from the genornl
body. The distinctive principle of these separatists was
non-subscription to all creeds and confessions.
This unhappy controversy was the cause of serious injury
to the Irish Presbyterian Church. It introduced an element
of discord into all her congregations ; it arrayed her clergy
into two hostile camps; it converted her church courts
into arenas of unseemly contention and strife ', it laid
an arrest upon her missionary movements ; and, in the
end, led to the exclusion from her communion of several of
the ablest of her ministers, and not a few of the most
influential of her laity. It was the commencement of a long
and gloomy period of declension and decay, which became
more marked and decided as the century advanced in its
course. EiTor in doctrine crept in, and indifterence to all
the true interests of vital goodness grew apace. The great
body of the people, it is true, remained faithful to their
ancient faith. The Shorter catechism was still in wide circula-
tion among them, and their children were diligently instructed
in its principles ; but they did not escape the prevailing spirit of
the times. The coldness, the indiflference to the high claims
of a living Christianity, the deadness to divine things
that was universal, especially in the last quarter of the cen-
tury, surrounded them with an atmosphere impregnated with
elements fatal to the growth of true piety and deep religious
feeling. A decent regard continued to be paid to the outward
196 * PREHBYTKKIAN CHURCH IN IRKLAND.
forrriH of i*eli{»ion, l)ut tlio inward njality was soroly wantinj:f.
A Wicular Hpiiit usurped tiie |)Ih(;(! of spiritual dcvution. 'I'in;
Hatictity of tlw Salthatli caino to ho opfjniy disie^^ardrd in many
fpiarters, and in tlics tinio of tho volunt<!«;rs, li(!i(!aft(!r to ho
noticed, tli(! differont oonipani(\s woro wont to assoinble for
drill on tlio day of sacret' r(!Ht. The churdios cuascnl to ho
exclusively devoted to divine worship, and wen? thrown open,
even on the Ijord's day, to political gathcM-in^s, nt which tlu;
burning questions of the day were freely discussed.
Ah the century rolled on towai'ds its close, the church's
dfjclcnsion from her former purity and zeal became wider and
more pronounced. An increasing number of the clergy and
of the wealthier and more influential of the laity were not
ashamed to call in question the more precious doctrin(!8 of
her creed. The supreme deity of the Son of God and the
doctrine of the atonement weret either quietly i^Miorcjd or
openly impugned in many of her [mlpits. Dry homilies on
the virtues of life took the [)lace of evangidical pr(;aching,
and a lifeless morality was substituted for genuine piety.
Various causes contributed to [)roduco this dej)lorable and
wide-spread declension and decay. When the disturbing
controversy regarding sub8cri{)tion to a particular creed as a
test of ecclesiastical fellowship in which it originated was
first started, the men who were ranged on tiie side of
error were distinguished by eminent ability and high
personal character. In the arena of debate they were more
than a matoh for all their antagonists. There can be no
doubt that the cause of orthodoxy suffered in consequence.
The sophistry in which they freely indulged, reconnnended
by the charm of a highly pei-suasive rhetoric, threw a
bewildering glare over error, which the less captivating
argumentation of their opponents proved insufficient to
remove. It was far otherwise in the early part of the
firesent century when the battle with Arianism was
i
THK HKKJN OF QIJKKN ANNK. ' 197
RiicccKsfiilly foiij^lit; and won. 'ritcii, it in iriU!, iht' N«^w
Ijiglil, |>Jiity cinbi'iu^tMl vvitliiii tlMur ranks K«iV(!raI uwii of
Hhiniur^ tahjiits, of whom hy far the most coiispicuoiiH was
the lat(5 Dr. Henry Montgon.ery, of Dunniurry, near Belfatit,
but, at the sauu; time, tliere were arrayeil on the side of
the orthodox cause; a still larger numlxu* of men of still
more splendid al)ilities, among whom the late Dr. Henry
(Jooke, of B(5lfast, to whom we shall hav(! occasion to refer
more fully her(!after, shone with j)re(!!ninent lustre.
Another and more fertile source of the spread of New
Light principles in tlie Irish Presbyt-erian (Jhurch in tln» last
century was unfaithfulness in enforcing its own laws.
Wh(;n the "Subscription controversy" Ixigan, tlie General
Synod was guilty of a weak connivance at breachcis of its
own enactments. Instead of adhering firndy to the law
requiring subscri[)tion to the Westnnnster Standards, it
I)assed, in 1720, what was known jis the Pacific Act, giving
to parti(!S calhul on to subscribe the right to expnsss in their
own words any phrase or phrases in the Conf(!Ssion of faith
to which they objected. This was done, doubtless, in the
hope of reconciling the contending parties, but it betrayed
a weak and vacillating spirit of whicli the New-Light party
were not slow to t:<,ke advantage. Scarcely had the ink been
dry that recorded it wlien the Presbytery of Belfast procee<led
to the induction of a clergyman into an important congrega-
tion in the town who declined to subscribe the (Jonfijssion of
faith in any form. Thi^< strange proceeding awoke a feeling
of alarm thoughout the whole church, md, at the following
annual meeting of the Synod, the pr<;vailing anxiety found
expression in the unusually large attendance. One hundred
and twenty of the one hundred and forty ministers on the
Synod's roll, and one hundred elders were jiresent; yet, un-
happily, the same temporizing spirit that had already wrought
much mischief was allowed to prevail. Nothing was done
198 PKESBYTERIAK CHURCH IN IRELAND.
to mark the Synod's flisa[)|)robation either of the proceeding
of the Belfast Presbytery, or of the conduct of the clergyman
whom they had inducted in open violation of law; and, though
memorials from the sessions of seventeen congregations dis-
tributed over no fewer than seven counties of Ulster were
laid before the court, urging the strict enforcement of the
law of subscription, the Synod contented itself with affirming
its belief in " the essential deity of the Son of God," and with
resolving, still further, to permit all members of the court who
were willing, to subscribe the Confession. In pursuance of
this resolution, the great majority of the ministers in atten-
dance signed the Confession ; twelve of a minority, all mem-
bers of the Belfast Society, refused. From this period the
two parties were known respectively as Subscribers and Non-
subscribers. The members of the Belfast society also declined
to subscribe the declaration of belief in the essential deity of
the Son of God, not because they disbelieved the doctrine,
but because they were " against all authoritative human
decisions as tests of orthodoxy." Such proceedings indicated
that the stern unbending loyalty to divine truth that had
hitherto marked the church's history had suffered serious
diminution, and, to some extent at least prepared the way
for the paiufu| declension that after years were to witness.
It is true the non-subscribing brethren, a few years afterwards
were excluded from her ranks, mainly, to their honour be
it recorded, by the votes of the eldership, but the separa-
tion, as it involved nothing more than exclusion " from
ministerial communion in church judicatories," did little to
arrest the downward tendency. The separated brethren still
held ministerial fellowship with members of the Synod, some
of whom were in full sympathy with their views, though
they were not honest enough to avow it. By this means,
the leaven of their principles was covertly diffused, seriously
underr iing the church's orthodoxy, sadly weakening all the
THE REIGN OF QUKEN ANNE. 199
sinews of her strengtli, iiiui in a niuiketl degree liasiening
her progress towards the deadness that ultimately pre-
vailed. In the last quarter of the century, tlie law requiring
subscription to the Westminster standards was practically
abandoned, and the prescribed course of training for the
ministry became so limited that any candidate who h.id
attended a divinity class only one session of five mouths
might obtain license. A full Arts course was all that was
held to be indispensable. M(ai so imperfectly trained on
the most })rofound of the sciences were ill qualified to grapple
with error, and just as little fitted to defend the truth against
powerful assailants. A highly educated ministry nuiy not
be necessary for the effective preaching of the gospel, but
wlien the defence of the truth is demanded, culture and
scholarship become of prime importance. A bulrush is but
a poor weapon with which to contend against a Djimascus
blade. The most learned and the most argumentative was
the most successful of the apostles, and he who is set for the
defence as well as for the })reaching of the gospel, if he
should prove himself to be a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, must be, not a novic e, but a well equipped minister
of the New Testament, "able by sound doctrine both to exhort
and to convince the gainsayers." It is true, he to whom all
power on earth and in heaven is given will take care of his
own gospel, and carry it forward to the consummation of
which his own purpose and promise give assurance, but, in the
accomplishment of his plans, he is [)leased to employ human
agency, and the whole history of the church is replete with
evidence that he is wont to associate the greatest measure of
success with the greatest measure of natural and acquired
ability. A weakling never could have accomplished the
work done by Luther. David refused to serve God with
that which cost him nothing, and he who brings to the work
of the ministry the fruits of a long and laborious preparation,
200 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
as well as iho j^it't of a vij^oroiis intellect, will certainly, if
l)otli 1)0 consocrat(!(l by a divine l)a})tiHm, whether in the
defence or the confirmation of tlie gospel, receive more
abundant honour. Nor, is it out of pHce to mention
liere that at the time at which a downward tendency
was spreading in the Irish Presbyterian Church, a similar
process was going on in the Presbyterian Church in England.
In this church, the evil also commenced in a demand foi*
religious liberty, and in a refusal to be held in bondage by
creeds and confessions. In the end, the usual consequence
followed — the oi)en rejection of all the vital j)rinciple8 of
divine truth, Presbyterianism died out, and Arianism,
which is little better than ba})tized infidelity, arose on its
ruins. Tliese events have a lesson for all the Presbyterian
Churches of our times. In tioimpet tones they proclaim the
high importance of abiding with unswerving faithfulness by
the scriptural standards to which they stand publicly pledged.
Religious liberty is a high sounding but often misleading
phrase. As used, it not unfrequently means liberty covertly
to sow tares in the Lord's vineyard without let or hindrance.
The history of the Presbyterian Church in England and in
Ireland proves that their true safety lies in " disregarding
the false cry for freedom, and in holding fast the faithful
word as they have been taught," in a definite and
authorized confession, which all those who exercise the
ministry within their communion must necessarily subscribe.
A yet more fertile source of the decay of religion in the
Irish Presbyterian Church in the last century lay in the
character of the theological training of the men who filled
her pulpits. It is of prime importance that the education of
candidates for the ministry should be in the hands of Professors
preeminently sound in the faith. Even one Professor whose
theological views are of a loose and uncertain character may
do incalculable mischief. There is good reason to believe
THR REION OF QUEKN ANNE. 201
that all tlie troul)le that at this time (UstiirhtHl tht^ peace
and |)aialyze<l the energies of the Presbyterian (.'liiirch in
Ireland had its origin in the University of Glasgow. The
majonty of the men who filled her pulpits had studied at
this venerable Institution, and from the prelections of Mr.
Simson, the Professor of Divinity, had imbibed the latitudin-
arian sentiments that were now painfully jjrevalent among
them. Though this Pi'ofesaor was set aside by the Church of
Scotland in 1729, others holding sentiments scarcely less
dangerous were allowed to hold chairs in the same Uni-
versity, of whom none exercised a more powerful influence
than the celebrated Dr. Francis Hutcheson, Professor of
Moral Philosophy. Dr. Hutcheson was a son of the minister
of Armagh, and the fii-st native of Ireland who was admitted
to a Professor's chair in the University of Glasgow. Ho
was a man of distinguished ability, and, as a Professor,
speedily rose to such fame that students from England as
well as from Ireland and all parts of Scotland flocked to his
classroom. Unhappily his ethical system tended to the sub-
version of the great principles of evangelical truth, and, as it
was urged with surpassing eloquence, it found ready acceptance
among the young men who were brought under the spell of
the brilliant rhetoric by which its principles were unfolded
and enforced. Under such training "the young fry" of the
pastors of the General Synod had learned to sit loose to
evangelical truth, and in little more than a quarter of a
century after the separation of the Presbytery of Antrim,
New-Light principles had gained a fatal ascendency.
In 1750, the Widows' Fund, designed to make some
provision for the support of the widows of deceased clergy-
men who, on the demise of their husbands, had often been
left in very destitute circumstances, was established in the
Synod of Ulster. The scheme was just and proper. The
design was laudable in the highest degree, but, strange to say,
202 I'RKSBYTRRIAN CHURCH IN IKKLAND.
one of the results of tliis eminently meritorious enterprise
was to further the church's downward progress. The
members of the Presbytery of Antrim were invited to join
in the scheme, and readily accepted the invitation. The
result of the closer and more frequent intercourse between
the two bodies tliat necessarily arose out of this arrangement
was to increase the growth of New-Light i)rinci[)les in tho
General Synod. Zeal for ortliodoxy fipparently had not as
yet died out. The year previous, an Act was passed enjoining
subscription to the Confession of Fjiith, but, for upward of
thirty years afterwards, though the law was oft(m evaded,
no attempt was made to enforce it. From this time forward,
the services of the pulpit assumed a more decidedly anti-
evangelical tone. Doctrines which the |)eople still held to
be precious were not openly assailed, but they were not
publicly taught. Human nature was credited with self-
recuperative powers that it certainly does not possess, and
the necessity for the work of the Redeemer was covertly
called in question. A rigid adherence to divine truth was
branded as sectarian bigotry, and a prevailing regard for a
higher christian life was pronounced to be either a hollow
pretence, or, if genuine, needless and unj)rofitable austerity.
A spurious liberalis^m usurped the place of a scriptural faith,
and all sorts of people were encouraged to look for a hopeful
issue in the final awards of a merciful Father.
When the stjite of things of which we have now furnished
but a faint outline began to make itself painfully manifest
in the Irish Presbyterian Church, thousands within her com-
munion, who still cherished an unswerving attachment to the
faith of their fathers, happily found relief from the defections
of the times in a movement that began in Scotland in 1732,
a brief nairative of which we propose to give in the following
chapter, as it was destined to exercise a most beneficial
influence in coming years on the cause of evange.Ucal truth
in Ireland.
THE RISK OF TIIK SECKSSION. 203
CHAPTER XI.
THE KISE OF THE SECESSION AND COVENAN UNO BODIES
IN IRELAND.
I
Patronaiife CBtablished in Scotland — HiHtory of— LeadH to Setiessioii— Ebenozer
Er«kiiie-The Secession extends to (reland Mr. I'atton, the first Secession
minister settled in Ireland, ordained at Lyleliall — A Secession Presbytery
fornie<l — The Secessio?i l)ody in Scotland rent in twain The division extends
to Ireland - Hurf^hers and Anti-hurKhers The separation does not stop the pro-
gress of the Secession— Presbyteries and Syncnls fonicd in connection with both
bodies — The division healed in 1818— The General Syno<l as itstoo<l in ITSl-
Lookinic for an increase of the Rejfiuni-Donuin— Disappointed— The Pretender
— Loyalty of the Ulster Presbyterians -Strife betewen the Secession and the
General Synod — Public discussion at Bal!jrp«haiie— First appearance and sub-
sequent proj^ress of the Reformed Presbyterians u. Ireland.
DATRONAGE, a system by which hiy patrons were
em[)Owercd to ap[)oint pastors to vacant con<,'regations
in the Church of Scotland, never found favour with
the great body of the Scottish people. At the
Revolution, when Presbyterianism resumed its rightful
place as the national religion, it was entirely abolished, and
the right of appointment virtually vested in the electoral
choice of the members of each separate congregation. When
the Union between Scotland and Enijland was effected in
1707, stringent provision was made for securing and preserv-
ing all the rights and privileges of the National Church, as
declared and secured at the Revolution. Among other
things, it was enacted, that the Confession of faith and the
Presbyterian form of church government were " to continue
without any alteration to the people of this land in all suc-
ceeding generations." But, five years only had elapsed, when,
under the Bolingbroke administration, and chiefly by Jacobite
influence, a bill was carried through parliament by large
204 PRURUYTKKIAN CHUK(;II IN lUKLAND.
majorities, in tlio fiU'o of t\u\ most, sticMMums opitosition from
thd Church, hy whicli |»iitioMaj;e was rnstonMl iiiul th(5 pcoph?
deprived of tho ri^^ht of (ilectioii. Ho decided was tiie feeling
against the change in the cliui'ch and among the [xioplo
generally, that patrons refrained from (exercising the power
the bill gave them, ami for nearly twenty years after it wjis
passed, settlements in congrcjgations contimuHl to be etfected
as fonnerly. But many of the patrons l)eing Jacobites*
anxious for the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, and bitter
enemies of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which was
j)re-eminently loyal to the Hanoverian succession, took
advantage of a clause in the Act, and kept parishes vacant
for yeaiu In 1719, this defect in the Act was remedied, and
it was declared that, unless a settlement was effected within
six months from the occurrence of the vacancy, tho })ower
of appointment was to pass to the Presbytery. Yet, though
shorii of its power for mischief in this particular, the Act
was so thorougldy at variance with the sentiments and
wishes of the Scottish people that it begat an endless amount
of strife and division, until it was finally abolished about
twenty years ago, and the right of election restored to the
people.
Even when th*^ church came to acquiesce in the law of
patronage, there was always a party within her communion,
including a goodly number of the ablest and most devoted
of her clergy, as well as of the most intelligent and pious of
her people, who were eagerly bent on the removal of the
obnoxious measure. This feeling soon found public expres-
sion. In the Assembly of 1732 an Act was passed, declaring
that in every case in which the right of appointment
devolved upon Presbyteries by the declinature or delay of
patrons to present, the heritors and eldere in landward
parishes, and the town council and elders in burghal parishes,
should at a meeting of the Presbytery, and in the face of
THE RISK OK TIIK SKl'^SION. 205
tlio coni»ioij;iit,ioii, ijivc a call to soinn oiu? to Ixs th(;ir luiniHti'r ;
that i\u' |H;i'Hon tliUH elccttMl Khoiild tlioii Ik; propoHtMl to iho
con«^re<^ation, to Ixi oitlior approved or (lisapprovtMl hy tliem ;
and that in caKO of disapproval, the Preshytery hIiouUI ^ive
judj^nient upon tlmir reasons, and detormino the nmttor.
This rule was to be observed till it should please God in his
providence to relieve the church of the law of patronage.
This enactment, which probably went as far as the church
had power to go in guarding the rights of the people, failed
to satisfy the more earnest portion of the Assembly, who
held that congregations w(5re endowed by Christ, the only
King and Head of the chuich, with tlie right to choose their
own ministers. Of this party, the c<debrated Ebenezer
Ei-skine, minister of Portmoak, Kinross-shire, was by far
the most conspicuous member. Not content with denouncing
the measure from his own pulpit, the zealous preacher took
the opportunity of declaring his sentiments in the presence
of a large number of his brethren, in a sermon that according
to cusi,om he preached as moderator, at the opening of the
annual meeting of the Synod of Perth and Stirling. He
chose for his text, " The stone which the builders refused is
become the head-stone of the corner," and, in immediate
relation to the subject that was uppermost in his mind, pro-
ceeded to say : ** There is a two-fold call necessary for a
man's meddling as a builder in the Church of God ; there is
the call of God and of his church. God's call consists in
qualifying a man for his work ; inspiring him with a holy
zeal and desire to employ these qualifications for the glory
of God and the good of his church. The call of the church
lies in the free choice and election of the Christian people-
The promise of conduct and counsel in the choice of men
that are to build is not made to patrons, heritors or any
other set of men, but to the church, the body of Christ, to
whom apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are
206 PIlKSItYTEKIAN CIIUUCII IN litKLAND.
given. As it is tho natural |)iivilo;(o of every houRo or
Hocioty of men to liavo tho clioii;<5 of their own Horvants or
offic<jrH, so it is the privilege of the House of God in a par-
ticular manner. What a misenihlt! bondage it would he
reckoned for any family to hav(i stewards or servants im-
posed on them by strangers, who might give the children a
stone for bread, or a scorjnon instead of a tish, poison instead
of medicine ] And shall we suppose that ever God grante<l
a power to any set of men, patrons, heritors or whatever they
may l>e — a power to impose servants on His family without
His consent, they being the freest society in the world ] "
Rising into a strain of lofty declamation as he drew near to
the end of his sermon, he exclaimed, '* A cry is gone up to
heaven against the builders by the spouse of Christ, like that
Cant., V, 7, 'The watchman that went about the city found me;
they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took
away my veil from me.' A cry and complaint came in be-
fore the bar of the last Assembly for relief and redress of
these and many other grievances, both from ministei's and
people. But instead of a due regard had thereto, an Act is
passed conferring the power of election unto heritors and
elders, whereby a new wound is given to the prerogatives of
Christ, and the privileges of his subjects. Allow me to say
that whatever church authority may be in that Act, it wants
the authority of the Son of God ... by it the corner-
stone is receded from ; He is rejected in his i)oor membei*s,
and the rich of the world put in their room."
Much of this language gave great offeree to many who
heard it. A motion for enquiring was immediately moved
and carried, and after a warm debate which lasted for three
days, the bold preacher was declared deserving of censure
by a majority of six. Erskine appealed to the General
Assembly. When the appeal came before the Assembly,
after a long and heated discussion, they found that the Ian*
TIIK UIHK OP TIIK HKCKHHIUN. 207
gimgo lin had uHod in Iuh Hynodical sermon, " was ofTcinsive,
and tenilod to distinli tlu^ peace and ;^ood oiiierof tlu! elmi'eh,"
and appoinic;! him to be relmked at tiie bar, and rebuked he
was. Against this decision Erskine protested, and in his
protest was joined by William Wilson, thi? minister of Perth,
Alexander Moncrieff, the minister of Abernethy, and James
Fisher, the minister of Abenhilgio. Having laid their
protest on the table of the Assembly, the four ((uietly took
their departure, never, as the event proved, to return. The
Assembly, regarding the protest as a deHance of its authority,
summoned the protesters again into its presence, and, in the
hope of reconciliation, appointed a committee to confer witli
them. As the conference proved fruitless, the Assembly,
unwilling to proceed hastily to extremities, and desirous to
give the protestors time for further and fuller consideration,
remitted the case to the Commission at its meeting in August,
empowering it to suspend them from the exercise of the
ministry, if they did not then withdraw their protest, and
express sorrow for their conduct, and to proceed to a liigher
censure at its meeting in November, if they should be found
to have disobeyed the sentence of suspension.
When the Commission met in August, seven Presbyteries
sent memorials favouring the protesters, but as they continued
recalcitrant and declined to resile from the position they had
taken, they were suspended from the office of the ministry.
When November came round, and it was found that they were
still in the same mind, and had added to their offence by disre-
garding the act of suspension [)assed in August, the Commis-
sion, after another fruitless attempt at reconciliation,
proceeded, not to depose them from the office of the ministry,
but to loose them from their respective charges, and to de-
clare them no longer ministers of the Church. Against this
sentence they entered a solemn protest, in which they
declared that they would still continue to minister to their
208 PRKSBYTERIAN CHUKOII IN IKELAND.
several congregations, that they wouW not cease to hold
ministerial communion with such of their brethren as had
not given way to the defections of the times, that they were
obliged to make secession from tlui prevailing party in the
church for having declined Irom Covenanted principles,
ending by declaring their right "to exercise the keys of
doctrine, discipline and government according to the Word
of God, the Confcission of Faith, and the principles and
constitutions of the Covenanted Chiu'ch of Scotland," and
by appealing "to the first free, faithful and reforming
General Asssembly of the Church of Scotland."
The four Seceders immediately constituted themselves into
a Presbytery, and shortly afterwards published their " First
Testimony to the government, woiship and discipline of the
church," in which they tell the story of the 8te{)s which led
to their expulsion, trace the history of the church in her
reforming and declining periods, bewail the departure of
Covenating times, and charge the church with having broken
down her constitution, with harbouring heretics, forcing
hirelings on the flock, and stopping the mouths of faithful
men who felt constrained to testify against her.
It cannot be justlj?^ said that there was anything in Mr.
Erskine's synodical sermon that called for ecclesiastical cen-
sure, and it is certain that the Assembly dealt with him and
with those who joined with him in his protest with undue
severity. Of this, the Assembly itself became, ere long,
fully convinced. At its meeting in May, 1734, it conceded
to the protesters all that they had asked, and went so far as to
repeal its own laws in the hope of winning them back. It
even empowered the Synod of Perth and Stirling to rescind the
Act of expulsion, and to restore them to their former status in
the Church. It is certain that Wilson was willing to return, but
Erakine was not to be moved. Undoubtedly, there was much
to encourage them to maintain the position they had taken.
THE RISE OF* THE SECESSlOJi. 209
They coinrnaiidod a lar^jo ineasuro of public sympathy ; their
names wer(j i^vo.vy when; pronounced with i-everence as the
champions of the rights of the j)eople ; their congi'e;;ations,
regarding them as martyrs and confessoi's, refused to he
separated from them, and forcibly withstood the ministers
who were sent to make public intimation of the severance of
the pastoral tie. The Church, notwithstanding, still con-
tinued to hoi)e for their return, and proceeded to other
measures of a reforming character, with a view to smooth the
way, but all was in vain. As they had not been frightened
by threats, they were not to be cajoled by kindness. To-
wards the end of 1730. they published their ''Judicial
Testimony," and thus widened the breach that had been
already created. For eight years after theii* secession, they
were allowed to retain their cliurches, and draw their stipends ;
bu*", in 1740, the Assembly, wiien all efforts at reconciliation
had proved unavailing, solemnly deposed them from the office
of the ministry, on the ground that they had been guilty of
contumacy, and had, in divers ways followed divisive coui'ses
from the church as established by law, and contrary to their
ordination oaths. They were now deprived of all the advan-
tages of connection with the Established Cliurch, and left to
depend for support on the voluntary contributions of their
adherents. In a financial sense, they probably suffered little ;
Vmt in name and fame they were immeasurably gainers. As
able evangelical minteters of the Church of Scotland they would
have commanded a wide temjKH-ary reputation ; but as the
Fathers and Founders of the Secession Church, their names
will continue to be pronounced with reverence through com-
ing generations, not alone iu the land that was the scene of
their zealous labours, but in all lands where the i)rinciple8
for which they contended have found wide-spread circulation.
The fame of the Secession movement in Scotland soon
crossed tlie channel, and reached Ireland, where it became
14
210 I'HKHHYTKIUAN ClUJliril IN iKKl.ANn.
ilm Hul)j<H;i of tlio rnoHt oarnoHt diHoiiKHion in tliouHaiulH of
Pr(}Ki*yU!riaii lioiiMiM. Putioiia*^*; waH unknown in tlio IriHh
PrcHliyUiiian (Jhnicli. (/ongro/^ationH cnjoyiMi tli<! fulloHt
lib«!r'ty in tho choic(5 of their j)aHtoiH, and jnHtly jirizod the
privilogo. It waH natural, tliorefonj, for IriHli Pr(;Hy)yt(!rianH,
whilHt<io|»Ioring tho r<;nt that had doprivod tho nioth(!r church
in Scotland of Wivcral of tho best of her ininiHt(;rH, to Hyin-
pathizj! witli tho out-going [tarty. I{a<l tins Hynod of IJlHUiV,
at tho time, Ijeen in tJio Hainc; h<!althy condition tiiat marked
th(; whole of itH hintory during the pniviouH century, the
ev(!nt would hav(i n^ceived notliing mon^, at moHt, than such
an exproHsion of ai>j)roval as was (!xtended to the HcccHHion
mov(;m<;nt, on a v(jry inucli larger Hcale, and on similar
grounds, that, in 1843, issutMl in the formation of the Free
(Jliurch. But tliis, unhappily, was far from being the case.
Not a f(5W of tlir; miniHt<!rs that filhid its puljnts sat loose to
the cardinal doctrines of the gosjiol, and, for th(! living bread
of divin(3 truth, substituted fanciful sp(;culations that were
incapable of making wise t<j life eternal. Jt is not surprising,
thfiHjfore, that wlien the; Scottish secession came to be dis-
cussed in the honuis of Pnjsbyttirian Ulster, some of the more
(jai-nest and devoted of the people began to look to the move-
ment, as opening up a [)rospect of release from the
corrtiption that had stealthily crej)t into their own
beloved Zion, and that, unhappily, instead of diminishing,
heenKul to be constantly on the increase. Still, no active
hte[)S were taken to engage the attention or to obtain the aid
of the Seceders across the chanriel, until circumstances aros",
that seemed to call loudly for an appeal to their generous
assistance. In 1736, a disputed settlement took place at
Lisburn, near H(ilfast. The dissentients, baffled in their
efforts to prevent the induction of an unacceptable pastor,
transmitted a memorial to the Secession Presbytery in Scot-
land, signed by one hundred and eighty lieads of families, stat-
THK UIHK OF TIIK HKr'KHHiON. 211
iii'^ Ui.il/ ii iiiini.sl,<;r li;i<l Ikm'Ii inipoHrd upon tJu'iii l>y tin* I'ikh-
l»yt«M*y of tlur Im)1IU(Ih, hikI pijiyin^ " lli;it, oiu; might Im? wnt
to tlKfiii who woiihl |»r<;ii(;li iIh! j^osjxil, not in wiMdoui of iuoii'm
woi(Ih, hut in tho purity and Kiinj)Iicity th(!r<*of." In 174h
H Hiniihii* appli(!!ition waH ina(h; hy th<; pcoph; of Lyh^hill, a
phi(,'(! hut a whoit diHtanw; from liiHhurn, an<l in fch(! following
y«!ar, two (/on»miK,sion<!rH wciio H(!nt over U) support tlio appli-
cation. Tho S«;c<!HKion hody waH yet in its infancy, ami nior(!-
ov(!r, waH nuM^ting with hucIi huccokh in Scotland, that it waH
impoHHihIc foi- it, however willing, to comply immediately
with Huch ajiplicatioiiH. in the Kummei- of 1742, they nent
ov(!r Mr. ThoH. liullantyn(}, tlie firnt S(!ceKHion mininttir who
visited Jniland. Mr. JJailantyne nMnained litth; more than
a fortnight, and was Hucce<-<l(!d by Messrs. Cjavin Beugo and
John KrskiiK;, who, though th(!y rerrjained long(!r than Mr.
I>allantyn(5, Ho<jn retuiiKid to S<;otland. No further appoint-
mentn were made till 1745, during which H<jveral HeceHsion
pr(!ach(!rs visited Ulster, attracting, wher<iv<!r they appeare<l,
crowded audi(!nces. Meanwhile, th(? Sciccssion hodv had
giown HO rapidly in Scotland that the; original "Associate PreH-
hytery " ha«l exj)and(!d into the three Presbyteries of Glasgow,
Kdinhurgh, and Dunfermline, which, on the 1 Ith of October,
1744, w<5re ojgani/<i(l into "The Associate Synod." ^I'lie newly
organized synod held its first meeting at Stirling, on thcs first
Tuesday in March, 1745, and on that occasion, Mr. Isaiic
Paton,alic(;ntiat<* under tlie care of the Presbytery of Dun-
ferndin(5, was commissioned t,o preach ninti sabbaths in Ulster.
Mr. Paton was a highly uccejitalih; |)reacher, and on the Gth of
tin; following July, the adherents of the Associate} Synod
in lN!mplej)atrick, Belfast and iiisburn, unanimously agreed
to invite him to be their pastor, Mr. John McAra, a niember
of the Presbyt(;ry of (ihisgow mod(;rating in the call.
Shortly afttirwards, th(5 Preten<ler ma<le his appearance in
Scotland, and in conscjquencij of the «UHturb(id ntnUi of the
212 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
country it wjis not till the 9th of July in the following
year that Mr. Paton wassoleuinly iuvesteil with tJje pastoral
office at Lylehill, by a Commission appointed by the
Presbytery of Glasgow, in accordance with instructions
issued by the Synod that met at Edinburgh, in the previous
April. Other ordinations followed soon afterwards, and in
1750, the first Secession Presbytery in Ireland, consisting of
three members, was organized at Arkilly, near Newton-
limavady. County Derry.
The Secession body in Scotland had not been long in
existence till it was rent in twain by a division of sentiment
among its members relative to the propriety of taking the
oath administered to burgesses in several of the borough
towns, which pledged all who took it to abide by
and defend all their lives " the true religion presently
professed within the roalm, and authorized by the laws
thereof." Some, contending that the phrase "the true
religion," meant simply Protestantism as distinguished from
Komanism, saw nothing objectionable in the oath ; others
held that it involved a recognition of patronage and all the
other abuses of the Established Church, and that, therefore,
no true Seceder could honestly and conscientiously enter into
such an engagement. When the separation took place, each
party retained the name of " The Associate Synod," but, in
popular language, the one was known as Burghers, and the
other as Anti-burghei-s. The question at issue had no
practical application in Ireland, yet, the Seceders there took
up the quarrel with all the earnestness and acrimony that
had entered into the discussions of the contending parties in
Scotland, and, like their brethren across the channel, divided
into two separate bodies, known popularly by the same
distinctive names. The disruption, however, did not
seriously interfere with the progress of the Secession cause
in Ireland. Both bodies grew and multiplied apace. As
THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. 213
early as 1 757, the ministers of tlie Burgher party were
Sufficiently numerous to be constituted into a Presbytery,
which was organized on the 24th of July in this year,
in William McKinlay's field, at Ballybay, Co. Monaghan,
and consisted of three ministers. This, which was called
the Presbytery of Monaghan, did not long stand alone.
In a few years, two otliei'S, those of Down and Derry,
were added to it ; the three, embracing altogether twenty
ministei's, were united in one Synod, which met for
the first time at Monaghan, on the 20th October, 1779. The
progress of the Anti-burgher party was hardly less rapid.
In 1788, they could count no less than four Presbyteries,
Belfast, Derry, Markethill, Templepatrick and Ahoghill,
including seventeen congregations, which were formed into a
Synod, that held its first meeting in Belfast, in 1788.
Various efforts were made, at different times, to reunite
the two separate bodies ; but it was not till the year
1818, that these efibrts were crowned with success. On the
9th of July in that year, they both met at Cookstown, and
according to terms of union previously agreed upon, formed
themselves into one body, under the designation of *' The
Presbyterian Synod of Ireland, distinguished by the name
Seceders." The Rev. James Rentoul of Ray was chosen the
first moderator of the united Church, which embraced at this
period ninety-seven ministers.
In 1751, the congregations of the General Synod of Ulster
amounted to one Rundred and fifty-seven, and those of the
non-subscribing Presbytery of Antrim that had been formed
in 1726 to thirteen. It is a significant evidence of the
dislike with which the Presbyterian people of Ulster
generally regarded New Light principles, that in a quarter of
a century this body was able to add but one to the number
of its ministerial charges. About this time the propriety of
an endeavour to procure an augmentation of the Royal
214 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
bounty engaged the serious attention of tlie Synod. Few
of the ministers were in comfortable circumstances.
A series of bad harvests had greatly impaired the aljility of
their congregations to contribute towards their support, and
the increase in their number had seriously reduced the
amount of the equal dividend from the Kegium-Donum
grant. Whilst the sulyect was under consideration, circum-
stances arose which led them to hope that an effort of the
kind would likely succeed. When the standard of rebellion
was raised in the Highlands of Scotland in 1745, and tin;
Pretender himself appeared on the scene, determined to make;
a bold stand for regaining the throne of his ancestors, the
Ulster Presbyterians were forward to evince their unshaken
loyalty to the house of Hanover. As it was susjjected that
the Romanists of the country were ready to join in supporting
the cause of the Pretender, the moment a favourable opportun-
ity arose, the Protestants of Down and Antrim, promptly took
steps to resist any movement of the kind, should it be made,
and, at the same time, published a declaration in which they
boldly announced their determination, "at the hazard of their
lives and fortunes to oppose all attempts against his majesty's
person and government." But though these prompt and
seasonable demonstrations of loyalty did much to strengthen
the hands of the government in the crisis that had risen, the
Synod, which, in the meantime, had been led to expect a
substantial expression of the Royal favour, was doomed to
disappointment. Some in high places ^ere disposed to
regard its claim as entitled to the heartiest recognition, but
opposing influences were at work that it was found at the
time impossible to overcome.
It is not to be supposed that the Secession body in Ireland
was allowed to prey upon the Presbyterian fold without
let or hindrance. The ministers of the General Synod were
but men, and it was only natural that they should look upon
THE RISE OP THE SECESSION. 215
the coming of the Secession preacliers into their parishes as
an unwarmnted intrusion, and sliould brand tliom as «li8turbers
of the peace, fomenters of dissension and strife, and ahettoi*s
of dissatisfied and disaffected elements in their congregations.
The feeling of resentment with which they regarded the
unwelcome intruders was not likely to suffer any diminution
in its intensity, when these zealous jjropagandists were found
ready to hurl back their reproaches with interont, charging
them with gross unfaithfulness in the discharge of their
ministerial functions, and with " discoursing in their pulpits
like heathen moralists," instead of proclaiming the glorious
gospel. In the unseemly strife that now arose, the customary
modes of warfare, in such circumstances, were eagerly resorted
to. Sermons were preached, pamphlets were written, and
public discussions were held. Of the publications on the
side of the General Synod, none were more effective than
the document entitled " A Serious Warning to the People
of Our Communion," issued in the name of the General
Synod. We subjoin a j)aragraph from this brief but
vigorous paper, as it furnishes a vivid view of the battle as
it was waged on both sides. " And whereas," it j»roceeds to
say, " some teachers known by the name of Seceders, have
in a most disorderly way, introduced themselves into our
bounds, and in many ways have vehemently railed against
this Synod, as if we kept in our communion such as are
tainted with the most dangerous errors ; we hereby declare
that no such thing has ever yet ap[)eared to us in a judicial
way, and sure it would be most contrary to the rules of
reason and Presbyterian government, to cast out of our
communion any member or members without trial or evidence
of any sort ; and therefore we challenge and cordially invite
all such as pretend to know any such person or persons, to
appear and libel them according to the known rules of
Presbyterian church discipline — and we faithfully promise if
216 PRKSBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
any be cenvicted, that they sliall be duly censured, according to
the demerit of their crime. And further, we recommend to all
the inferior judicatories of this church, to do their utmost,
in a true Presbyterial way, to purge this church of all
unsound members, if any such be among us ; and to
endeavour with all true zeal and diligence, to i)reserve, as
much as lies in their power, the purity of doctrine, discipline
and worship established in this chi;rch, within their respective
bounds."
The battle waxed hot and fierce. Not content with
fulminating against each other from their respective pulpits,
or with issuing acrimonious pamphlets fiom the press, the
more warlike of the belligerents longed for closer combat,
and accordingly, public discussions were held in which
chivalrous champions of the contending parties employed
the full strength of their controversial powers, aided by the
most fervid eloquence, to win, each for his own side, the
verdict of popular a})proval. One of the most noted of these
theological contests took place in the summer of 1747, at
Bally rashane, a rural district lying between Coleraine and
the Giant's Causeway. The combatants were Mr. John
Swanston, a Licentiate, on the side of the Secession, and the
Rev. Robert Higinbotam, one of the ministere of Coleraine,
on the side of the General Synod. On a platform, erected in
the open air, the two warlike antagonists belaboured each
other with the utmost vehemence for a live long day, in the
presence of an immense congregation, with the usual result
in such cases, that each party claimed the victory.
It would be idle to claim on behalf of the Secession body
in Ireland that it was faultless. From the very outset it
was tainted by l spirit of narrowness and bigotry,
but ill accordant with the broad and comprehensive spirit
of the gospel. There can be no doubt, however, that it
conferred lasting benefits on the Presbyterianism of Ireland.
THK KISK OF THE SECESSION. 217
It gave to it not a fovv of tho host nioii who liavo »i(U)rne(l its
history, and it materially contrihuted to the preservation, in
a period of declension and tiecay, of those vital principles of
a pure gospel that have raised the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland in our times to a foremost place among the living
churches of Christendom.
The fii*st appearance of the Scotch Seceders in Ireland
was followed not long aft(;r by the ap])earance of another
body of Scotch Presbyterians of a still more rigid type.
About the middle of the last century, two missionaries of
the Reformed Presbyterian Church, or, as they were commonly
designated, two mountain ministers, the Rev. John Cameron,
and the Rev. Thomas Cuthbertsc.:, arrived in Ulster, and
|)reached in several localities, attracting large audiences.
The body that they represented had only come into existence
a few yeai-s previous. The first Presbytery of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church, as the new organization was technically
designated, was constituted at Braehead, in the parish of Carn
wath, Scotland, in August, 1743, and consisted originally of
two ministers, the Rev. Messrs. McMillan and Nairne, and
some ruling elders. One of the distinctive principles of this
body was a refusal to acknowledge i he authority of ariy but
a Covenanting king, or to allow any of its members to hold
any office, civil or military, under the Crown. In 1752, Mr.
Cuthbertson emigrated to America, under the direction of
the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland, and shortly after, Mr.
Cameron became a minister of the Synod of Ulster. About
the year 1761, the Rev. Matthew Lynd, the first Irish
Covenanting minister, was settled at Vow, near Rasharkin,
Co. Antrim. It was not till 1792 that the first Irish Cove-
nanting Presbytery was constituted, and on the first of May,
1811, the first meeting of the "Reformed Presbytenan
Synod," including four Presbyteries, the Eastern, the Western,
the Northern and the Southern, was lield at Cully backey,
near Ballymena, Co. Antrim.
218 PRK8BYTKKIAN CHURCH IN IKKLAND.
Tlie Covenanters have never met with much HucceHS either
in Scotland or Irehmd. Tlieir peculiar views relative to the
civil government of the kingdom liave doubtless interfered
with their progress. Tliey have always been distinguished
by a strict aauerence to the great principles of divine truth,
and, for intelligence and i)iety, they compare favourably,
ministers and people alike, with any other brancli of the great
Presbyterian family. At present, they number about forty
congregations in Ulster; it is difficult to discover any justifica-
tion for their separate existence as a denomination ; the
line that divides them from the great body of the
Presbyterian i)eople of Ireland is so small as to be almost
invisible.
OKOKUK III. TO ('LOSK OK CKNT'JRY. 211)
CITAPTKR XIT.
FROM TIIK ACCKSSION OF OKOIKiK IN. TILL TIIK CLOSK
OF THE CKNTUHY.
Uejoicin^ at. the acoeHBioii o( the younj? kiiij^- Ail(lrt'H« from the Synoti of Ulster
aiirl Presbytery of Antrim— l'ul)li(i diHcontent and tlisturhance -RiHe of the
volnriteers Political ai,'itation Sicrct Hocii-tieH ohJectH at flr«t legitimate,
Hoon weditioim and revolutionarv The retieliion of 'itH IncidentM of In the
North— In the South— Halbiiahinch—Vinepfar Hill— Wexford Hridt,'e— Heulla-
ho^ne R.irn The Preshyterians unjustly (•har>fed as the instijfators of the
rebellion -The rebellion ha|)pilly uriauweHsful— Pro^jresH of the Presbyterian
Chmch- Dr. (Jampbell, of Arma^fh, defends the church from an attack by a
hiuhop — Discussion between the Seceders and the Covenanters.
GEORGE III., gnmasoii of tljo lato king, George
II., ascended the tlirone in the month of October,
17G0, amidst the heartiest rejoicings of all classes
of his subjects. He was young ; he was an
Englishman by birth and education ; and, under the able
administration of Mr. Pitt, the most illustrious statesman
who as yet had guided the destinies of the nation, the
country was growing rapidly in wealth and power. In the
war with Fiance, begun live years befoie, the British arms
had of late been signally successful. Oidy a year previous,
the gallant Wolfe had fought and won the battle of the
Plains of Abraham, which resulted in the cession of the
vast territory now known as the Dominion of Canada to
the British Cro>vn.
By no class of His subjects was the young king's
accession more heartily welcomed than by the Irish
people. The Presbyterians were not beliind in tendering
their congratulations. The Synod of Ulster and the
Presbytery of Antrim united in an address to the new
220 I'KKHItYTeUIAN C11UK(.'H IN lUELAND.
monarch, brimful of tlui moHt unU^iit loyalty. But, imdor
all the N{)l(Mi(lour of tho outwar<l rcjoicingH that groete*! tho
acccsHioii of tho young Koveroign, there cxiHted elcmoiitH in
the social condition ot the people that boded danger to the
public peace. Poverty was deep and widespread, and tho
habits of the people, in too many instances, only temled to
aggravate the evil. Kven energy and industry could hardly
succeed in keeping the wolf from the door. As the great nuiss
of the people were engaged in agriculture, the exactions of the
landlords, many of whom resided abroad, and most of whom
W(5re cruelly regardless of the welfare of their tenantry,
absorbed the greater })ortion of their earnings, and hift in their
hands but the merest pittance for the support of their families.
Even in the north, where the condition of the Protestant
population contrasted favourably with the condition of tho
l^eople in the other provinces of the kingdom, there was
much to breed discontent, and to jirovoke })ublic disturbance.
Secret societies under the names of " Oak Boys " and
"Hearts of Steel" arose, and many outrages were committed.
It is easy to condemn the lawless proceedings of these
associations, but when it is remembered that they aimed, not
to subvert the institutions of the country, but simply
to secure relief from the unjust and intolerable exactions
of a privileged class that habitually and remorselessly
robbed them of the fruits of their toil, the sentence of
condemnation will likely be pronounced in a milder tone.
It is certain that if the poor down-trodden people had been
treated with ordinary kindness, and the slightest disposition
had been shown to redress the wrongs that were sorely embit-
tering every hour of their lives, they would have caused no
disturbance of the public peace. Presbyterians, always and
everywhere, are friends of law and order; but oppression makes
wise men mad ; and if, in some instances they have surrendered
themselves to the guidance of the madness that oppression
OKOROK in. TO CLOSE OF CENTURY. 221
genfriit(!s, if not an aTiiplo viiuli(;iiti<)n, ciM'tainly a satiHfaotory
a|)ol();^y tor thvAv conduct may Ikj tbund in the circiiinstanceri
in whicli it ori;u;inatc(l. TIk; truth is that tlu? pooph; of
UlHtot* hegan nt the tiino to fttci that they had Hutiniitted to
unjuHt and uneiiual hiWH, and the tyranny of a proud and
opprc8.sivc oligarchy, long enough, an<l tliat the time had
come wlien they should resolutely as8(M*t their claim to a
larger share of liberty, and, with the manly dignity worthy
of free men, seek the removal of the insulting and vexatious
grievances they had too long patiently endured. By and by
circumstances arosf? that t(Mided materially lo develop and
strengthen this feeling.
The war that Britain was unhappily led to wage with
the revolted American Colonies, followed by a war with
France, strip[)ed Ireland of a large body of the troops
usually kept in its garrisons for its defence. The country, in
consequence, was peculiarly expo.sed to danger, for a French
force might, at any time, land on its coasts, rousing the
Romish population into open and active rebellion. As a
measure of self protection, the people of Ulster, with the
concurrence of the government, began to enrol them selves
into volunteer companies, and so amazingly popular did the
new movement become, that in a few yeara, 100,000 men
had joined the association. The volunteers purchased their
own arms and accoutrements, elected their own officers, and
were regularly drilled and organized. The great majority
were Presbyterians ; and, as the several compaiiies
assembled for drill, they were wont, ere they separated,
to form themselves into political debating soci*. ies, at
which existing grievances were freelly discussed, and a
claim to larger measures of freedom strongly urged. The
government, fully aware that, at any moment, they might be
compelled to depend upon this volunteer force for the defence
of the country from foreign aggression or internal rebellion^
222 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
began to maniftist an anxious <l('.siro to conciliato the Presby-
terians. In 1780, they reix^aled tlie Test Act, wliicli, for more
than three-quarters of a century, liad imposed "an odious mark
of infamy " upon this important section of the community.
Two years afterwards, they passed an Act, notwithstanding
the strenuous op})osition of the bishops, declaring valid all
marriages celebrated by Presbyteri.in ministers, and two
years still further on, they added £1,000 a year to the
Regium Donum grant. In 1792, they augmented this grant
by the still larger addition of £5,000. In 1784, the
Seceders, who hitherto had not been favoured with a State
allowance, were admitted to a share in the Royal bounty.
Chiefly, through the influence of their great friend and
patron, the Earl of Hillsborough, they were voted £500 a
year, with a proportionate share in the £5,000 just
mentioned.
Meanwhile, military ardour and political agitation
proceeded with equal pace. New volunteer companies weia
continually springing into existence, and, as they were found
in all parts of the province, and seldom separated without
enteringupon a free and often excited discussion of great public
questions, a dangerous enthusiasm began to pervade the
entire community. The story of American Independence
and the French Revolution helped to fan the spreading flame.
Intoxicated with the enthusiasm that sprang from the
frequent and admiring discussion of these great movements
on the side of liberty, the more ardent of the volunteers
began to scorn the idea of further application to the power
that Lad only shown a disposition to listen to their demands
when they had been able to make them with arms in their
hands, and to hint at entire separation as the only remedy
for the grievances of which they had still just reason to
complain. As the glowing vision of such an independence
for their country as the American Colonies had won
OEOHOE III. TO CLOSE OF CENTURY. 223
for themselves rose higher in tlie sky of their con-
templation, it assuMKMl ii more splendid and dazzling
aspect. No sacrifice was held to be too great that might
conduce to such a glorious issue, For brave men to falter,
or to shrink from any danger, in such a cause, were the
basest cowardice. To men, who felt and reasoned thus, it is
not surprising that their overwrought imagination concealed
from them the danger of such an enterprise, and the possibility
of failure. Secret societies had been formed, under the
designation of United Irishmen. At first, the objects of these
societies had been perfectly legitimate, but as the more ardent
and visionary of the members that swelled their ranks came
ultimately to control their counsels, nothing else was aimed
at than the total subversion of the British power, and the
establishment of a free republic in Ireland. So rapidly did
these societies increase, especially when the Romish popula-
tion began to pour into their ranks, with the concealed
purpose of securing through their agency Romish ascendency
in Ireland, that in the course of a very few years, the
immense majority of the adult male population of the island
had become members of the association. The enthusiasm
rose with their constantly increasing numbers. Nothing
seemed impossible to a united people ; let but one bold stroke
be struck, a,nd the British yoke is shivered into fragments,
and Ireland's freedom won. So came about the rebellion of
'98.
It was finally arranged that the outbreak should commence
on the 24th of May, and, as in 1641, the intention of the
conspirators was to begin with the seizure of Dublin Castle
and the capture of the Privy Council. But the government,
being apprised of their design, took such precautionary
measures that they were compelled to abandon this part of
their programme. In the North, the rising was confined to
the Counties of Down and Antrim. One insignificant action
224 PRESBYTERIAN CHUllCII IN IRELAND.
in Antrim and three in Down, sufficed to exhaust the
courage of the insurgents. The only action in Down of any
importance took place at Bally nahinch, on the 13th of June,
when many of the insurgents, some accounts say five hundred,
were killed, and the rebellion in Ulster effectually suppressed.
In the South, the insurrection assumed more formidable pro-
portions, and was confined chiefly to the County of Wexford,
which includes the south-eastern corner of the island. As
the real object of the outbreak in this part of the country
was entire separation from England and the extermination
of Protestantism, it was signalized by a series of atrocities
that vividly recall the memory of the worst scenes of '4 1 , and
reveal in its darkest colours the infernal elemei t that lies con-
cealed in the Irish nature. A Roman Catholic priest. Father
John Murphy, of Boolavogue, was at the head of the insur-
gents, and with a priest for a leader, and a horde of poor,
ignorant, blinded Romanists for his battalions, it was not to
be expected that the least mercy would be shown to Protest-
ants. The work of carnage began on a Sunday morning, when
a Protestant clergyman named Burrows and seven of his
parishionei-s who had fled to his parsonage for safety, were
brutally murdered in cold blood, his son mortally wounded,
his home sacked and then burnt to the ground. " Leaving
Mrs. Burrows with her niece and four children sitting among
the bleeding bodies, beside her dead husband and dying boy,"
the savage horde marched across the country towards the
palace of the Protestant bishop, intending to repeat the tragedy
of the morning, and pausing only to set fire to such Protestant
dwellings as lay on their way. Happily the inmates of the
palace had found safety elsewhere, but the building itself was
sacked and then given to the flames. Father John was here
\oined by another priest, Father Michael Murphy, of like
javage temperament and character. With a force now swollen
to several thousands, the two priests gave themselves with
GKORGE 111. TO CLOSE OF CENTURY. 225
eauernesato their congenial work, saokin'jand l)iirnins: houses
and killing every Protestant they were able to identity. On
the following Thursday they inarched at the head of their
motley battalions to Vinegar Hill, which they made their
standing camping ground. Here religion was mingled with
the most savage brutality. Twenty priests said mass every
day at different points of the camp, and as often "a holocaust
of Protestants was offered to the national divinities." That
the regular supply of victims might not be wanting, gangs of
ruffians weie sent out to scour the country, and bring in every
Protestant they could find. In this way, four or five
hundred Protestants, whose only crime was the religion
they professed, were inhumanly butchered.
Terrible as were the scenes of butchery and blood that
now occurred here daily, they were a short time afterward
exceeded by scenes, if possible, still more revolting.
On the 20th of June, a column of pikemen crossed
Wexford Bridge, carrying a black banner with a red cross in
the centre, which they planted on the Custom House
Quay. Drink was served out to them, though they little
needed its maddening influence to convert them into fiends
more ferocious than tigers. Three hundred Protestant
prisoners, including country gentlemen, magistrates, mer-
chants, clergymen, tradesmen, confined at the time in the
public gaol, supplied a safe and convenient prey to these
infuriated and merciless ruffians. Of the unha[)py captives,
ninety-seven, whose only oflence was that they were Protes-
tants, were ceremoniously and deliberately murdered. That
the insatiable appetite of their inhuman slayers for Protestant
blood might enjoy the gratification of a more protracted
indulgence, the victims were dealt with separately. They
were first taken, one by one, from the gaol, then, after a mock
trial, led out to the Bridge. Here the hapless victim was
stripped naked, and then placed upon his knees in the middle
15
226 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
of the road, i wo pikeinen took a position in front of him,
and two behind him. Tlioy knnlt, said a i)rayoi' ; then
levelling their pikes, they rose, ran iii)on him, caught him
on the points of their pikes, held him aloft, and then
pitched his writhing and bleeding body over tiie panij)et
into the stream below. So went on the bloody work through
a long midsummer day, till seven o'clock in the evening,
when a priest at last interfered, at the risk of his own
life, and insisted that it should stop. It is probable that
even his generous interference would have failed, had not, at
that instant, an express come in to say tliat the English
army was getting the better of their friends at Vinegar
Hill, and that every man able to fight was needed in the
field. The intelligence struck tlie guilty wretches with
consternation and alarm. Imagining that they already saw
the hand of the doom they justly deserved stretched out to
seize them, they fled in terror from the scene, leaving the
prisoners who had been in momentary expectation of
immediate slaughter, in bewildering astonishment at the
suddenness of their flight. The next day, the rebels were
driven in defeat and disaster from Vinegar Hill, and on the
evening of the same day Wexford was occupied by the
king's troops, and the surviving prisoners delivered from
captivity.
In the end of May, the insurgents formed another camp
at Carrickbyrne Hill, about six .niles from New Ross which
stood on the Wexford bank of the Barrow. From this as a
centre of operations, they made raids into the surrounding
country and took many Protestants prisoners, whom
they confined in the buildings of a homestead at the
foot of the hill, belonging to a Captain King, called
Scullabogue. Here, one hundred and eighty-four prisoners,
chiefly old men, women and children, who had been taken
because they were too helpless to escape, were shut up in a
GEORGE III TO CLOSE OF CENTURY. 227
barn thirty-four feet long ami fil't<Hm feet wide. From thirty
to forty others wen; imprisoned in the dwelling house. On
the 5th of June, in an encounter at New Ross with the
Royalists, the rebels were defeated, with the loss of two or
three thousand men. Hardly had the action commenced,
when a party of the insurgents, cowards as well as savages,
rushed from the field to Scidlabogue, declaring that the
day was lost, and that they had brought orders for all
the prisonei-s to be immediately i)ut to death, as they might
otherwise \)e dangerous. Those who were confined in the
dwelling house ware at once brought out, and shot upon the
lawn. "The standers-by stabbed them with their pikes as
they fell, and licked the blood from the points." A still
worse fate awaited those in the barn. Fire was set to the
thatch ; soon the whole building was wrapt in flames, and
in a few minutes all that remained of the unfortunate
prisoners was one hundred and eighty-four charred and
blackened bodies. " One little child crawled under the door,
and was escaping. A rebel ran a pike into it as a peasant
runs a pitchfork into a cornsheaf, and tossed it back into the
flames."
An insurrection conducted with such appalling barbarity
could not hope to succeed. A well deserved retribution
speedily overtook the guilty participants. The leaders were
either killed in battle, or seized and afterwards hanged.
Father John Murphy fled from Vinegar Hill, when the day
was lost; but shortly afterwards he was taken, and, on the
26th of June, i)aid on the gallows the just [)enalty of his
many and great crimes. Thousands of the })oor, ignorant
people, who had been betrayed into rebellion by the leaders of
the movement, perished either in battle, or, when the battle
was over, by the hands of the infuriated soldiery who could
not be restrained in the hear of victory from slaking
their vengeance in the blood of the merciless hordes who
228 rilESBYTElUAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
had not hesitated to indulge with savage glee in wholesale
murder.
The P.vesbyterians have often been stigmatized as the
instigators of this reb(?llion, and it is not difficult to under-
stand how the groundless and unmerited accusation has come
to be preferred. They constituted the overwhelming
majoiity of the volunteers, who did nuich, as we have
already seen, to set on foot the [)olitical agitation which
eventually culminated in the outbreak. The society of
United Irishmen, that idtimately rose in arms, had its origin
in Belfast, where they were, as they still are, the large
majority of the population, and found its earliest and most
active partisans among members professedly of their com-
munion. When the rebellion broke out, a considerable
number of the Presbyterian laity as well as a few Pres-
byterian ministers weie active participants in the foolish
and abortive undertaking. But, it should be remembered,
that at this dark and melancholy period in the history of
Ireland, religion was at a very low ebb. Never had the
Presbyterian Church exhibited so wide a departure from
the purity and zeal of her earlier days. The Established
church was in a still worse condition. Infidel sentiments
pervaded the entire community. Paine's " Age of Reason,"
and "Rights of Man" were in extensive circulation. Those
of the Presbyterians who adhered to the society of United
Irishmen, and were active in promoting its objects, belonged,
for the most part, to the New Light party, and, in keeping
with the prevailing spirit of the times, allowed their regard
for political reform to override their better judgment. The
society they took an active part in establishing, and in the
promotion of whose objects they zealously engaged, when
first instituted in 1791, contemplated purposes strictly
legitimate. It aimed mainly at parliamentary reform, the
need of which at the time will be at once seen, when it is
GKOROE III. TO ("LOSE OF CENTURY. 229
stated thut the voice of thr iicoplci liad no sliaro wliatt^vor
in the election of at least thnio-foiirtlis of the niombers of
the House of Commons. And it sought to secure this
legitimate object by the harmonious co-operation of all classes
of Irishmen, irrespective of race or creed. As long as the
society moved within strictly constitutional limits, it com-
manded the support of a large portion of the Presbyterians
of Ulster; but when, four years after its first organization,
it became secret, seditious and revolutionary, aiming at the
subversion of the British power, and the establishment of a
republic in Ireland, most of them abandoned its ranks, and
became active members of the Orange Association, which,
formed in 1795, rendered signal service to the State in
counteracting the treasonable designs that now began to
convulse the country. The few who declined to abandon its
connection, and allowed themselves to be borne into the
vortex of rebellion, were doubtless sincere but misguided men,
who, in the ardent admiration of visionary theories regarding
the rights of man, vainly imagined that the cause they *
sought to support was fraught with blessings to their country.
It had been well for themselves and their country, if in this
time of wide-spread disaffection, they had listened to the
wise councils of the church to which they professed to belong.
The Synod of Ulster, at its annual meeting in 1793, when
an uncontrollable mania for revolutionary projects was
beginning to make itself painfully manifest, declared, with-
out a dissentient voice, that "they fit themselves called
upon explicitly to avow and publish their unshaken attach-
ment to the genuine principles of the British constitution —
an attachment early inculcated by the lessons of their
fathers, and since justified by their own observation and ;
experience." And, whilst expressing their desire for parlia-
mentary reform as members of civil society, they declared
that " in seeking this reform, they vnll not be seduced by the
230 PRESBYTERIAN CHUR<'H IN IRKLAND.
visionar/j fhroi les of sjfectildtire vim, l»iit, (;ikiiii; tlio
principles of tlio British constitution tor tli<'ir guide, they
will cooperate with their fellow citizens by all couHlitxtional
means, to obtain this great object, rcjcctiiiy v)ith abhorre)ice
every idea of pojmlar tuimdt or foreigji aid." In '98, when
the rebellion had spent its force, and the landing of a
formidable French force at Killala had enkindled the fear of
another and more formidable outbreak, the Synod, at a special
meeting held at Lurgan, renewed its declaiation of loyalty
to the Crown, and its strong disapprobation of those of its
communion who had been guilty of rebellion. It also made
a gift of j£500 to the government, "as the contribution of
the members of the body towards the defence of the king-
dom," enjoining, at the same time, the several Presbyteries,
under a i)enalty of severe censure, to institute a solemn
enquiry into the conduct of ministers and licentiates charged
with " seditious and treasonable practices," and to report to
the next annual meeting, and issuing an address, to be read
from every pulpit within its bounds, in which, " Whilst we
lament," say they, " the late disturbance of the public peace,
we derive no small satisfaction from the conviction that the
great bo<ly of the people, with whom we are connected have
given, by tJieir conduct, the most decisive proofs how greatly
they condemned all acts of violence." Two years before the
insurrection took place, the government, in the disturbed
state into which the country had lapsed, organized a body
of yeomanry, comi)osed exclusively of men of known and
approved loyalty, to aid the regular forces in the preservation
of the public peace. In the Counties of Armagh, Tyrone,
Fermanagh and Derry alone, the newly organized body, when
the insuiTection took place, amounted to fourteen thousand
men, of whom, at least, three-fourths were Piesbyterians.
The majority of the leading conspirators were, nominally.
Episcopalians. Not a single minister of the Secession body
OKOROK in. TO CLOSK OF CENTURY. 231
was accused of trciison, ami of tli(^ two hundred niiiUHtors
on the roll of the Synod of Ulster, only eight were convicted
of complicity in the rebellion. In proportion to its extent,
the Presl)yt<iry of Antrim was much more deeply implicated.
Two of the ministers belonging to this small body were
obliged to leave the country, and a third was kept for som«i
time in imprisonment. The Covenanters were quite as much
involved. They had only eight or nine ministers in Ireland
at the time, and of these, two or three were more or less
compromised. As a body, however, they were eminently
loyal. When the insurrection was finally sui)pressed, of
the twenty State prisoners who were sent to Fort George,
in the North of Scotland, ten were Episcopalians, six,
Presbyterians, and the remainder, Romanists.
It was well for Ireland that this unhappy movement
proved a failure. Had it succeeded, it would have placed a
serious barrier in the way of its future progress, reducing
its Romish population to deeper and more degrading
political servitude by practically placing its government in
the hands of their priesthood, endangering the very
existence of Protestantism, in the maintenance and spread
of which lay the chief hope of its future elevation, driving
capital and the men of energy and enterprise from its shores,
and thus greatly aggravating all the evils of its condition,
especially the pauperism that, even under the most favourable
circumstances, has been so widely prevalent throughout a
large portion of its area.
It has been already stated that, in 1751, the number of
congregations in the General Synod of Ulster amounted to
one hundred and fifty-seven, and that of the Presbytery of
Antrim to thirteen. During the prevalence of New Light
princijJes, church extension made little progress. In the
twenty years preceding 1789, not a single congregation had
been added to the roll of the General Synod. Notwithstand-
232 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
ing the political agitation, onding in civil war, that existed
throughout the remaiiKhir of the century, th(! juogresa made
was considerable. When the century closed, the congrega-
tions of the Synod and the Presbytery of Antrim combined,
numbered one hundred and eighty-six. Though, at this
period, the standard of education for the ministry had V)een
greatly reduced, the church could number in its ranks
several men of distinguished ability, able to sustain her
reputation for scholarship and talent, if not for orthodoxy,
with an effectiveness worthy of the best days of her history.
In 1786, Dr. Woodward, the bishop of Cloyne, published a
pamphlet, in wliicli he undertook to establish the proposition,
that the members of the Established church alone could be cor-
dial friends to the entire constitution of the realm with perfect
consistency of principle. As his proposition virtually
cnallenged the loyalty of all who did not belong to the
communion of the Established Church, his pamphlet
attracted much attention, and evoked a number of replies.
Of these, by far the ablest was written by the Rev. Dr.
Campbell, the Presbyterian minister of Armagh, entitled
" A vindication of the principles and character of the
Presbyterians of Ireland." In this seasonable and effective
publication, the Armagh divine had little difficulty in
showing to a demonstration, that the Presbyterians had
always been, often in the face of the strongest provocation
to the contrary, the foremost and most unwavering supporters
of the British constitution, whilst Prelacy, which its friends
were wont to boast of as essential to the safety of the State,
had more than once brought it to the verge of ruin. To this
work, the Rev. Dr. Stock, an ex-Fellow of Trinity College,
Dublin, replied in a publication in which he endeavoured to
fasten upon the Presbyterians the charge of intolerance. To
this rejoinder Dr. Campbell published an extensive and
exhaustive answer, in which he triumphantly maintained
OROROE III. TO CLOSE OF CENTURY. 233
the position lie liud t;ikcn in liis first work, and vindicated
his chur(;ii fVoiii th<' imputation with wliicli she liad beou
recklessly assailed, and with such power and efh'ctivonesa,
that his learned assailant was ohli^ied to retiie from the
contest.
During the heat of this controversy, a theolo<,'ical discus-
sion of a different character took place between the Seceders
and the Covenanters, Both admitted the contimied obliga-
tion of the national covenants ; but the rfeceders alone of
the two parties acknowledged the existing civil government,
the Covenanters refusing to acknowledge the autlioi'ity of
any but a covenanting king. The (picstion that divided
the two bodies had been often keenly discussed, but now a
combat of a more public chai'acter was to be held to sift its
merits. A viva voce discussion was ap})ointed to be held in
the neighbourhood of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, in which
the Rev. John Rogers, a minister of the Secession body, and
Mr. James McGarragh, a licentiate of the Reformed
Presbytery, should ni)hold the views of the respective bodies
as best they could. On a platform erected in the ojjen air,
in the presence of assembled thousands, the two warlike
combatants fought for victory for a long day, with as much
eagerness as if the whole fate of Christianity itself hung
suspended on the issue. It would be a vain task to attem[)t
to describe the changing fluctuations of the bloodless conflict,
as the two antagonists hammered away at each other with
might and main during that summer day. Suffice it to say,
that, in the end, both parties clung more tenaciously than
ever to the principles they had previously espoused.
234 FRESHVTKKIAN CIlUiU'H IN IKKLAND.
CHAPTEll XIJI.
FROM 1800 TILL 1829.
Union with nritain— ProUjHtantH generally favoural)le to -Kffortu to (!onciliato the
Uunian Catholir hieran^hy and dertfy Incrrase in the Ut'Kiuni Doninn -
New mode of dlstrihiition— The Secodt-rH favoured with a lilie increaae—
Si^na of renewed life in the churcih — Knj^liHli tvantri'listH in I'lHter - Dr.
Carson— Committee appointed to provide for the incTeased (^iri-uiation of the
Scriptures— Dr. Coolte— Urief slteteh of his life— His hattle with Arianism—
Smithiirst—He follows him, wherever he >foeH— The battle in the church courts
— Syno<l at Straliane— At fooltstown Dr, Mont^'omery— Kxcitement increased
hy the appointment of a professor in the HelfaHt College, suspected of holdiiiiuf
Socinian views— Syno<l at Lurjfan— Cooke and Mont^fomery— Arianism driven
out of the SyiKHl— Value of Dr. Cooke's services to the church— The Covenan-
ters— Unipialifle*! suliscription to the Westujinster standards- llcnewal of
intertrourse with the mother church in Scotland— Union hetween the 8yno<l
of Ulster and the Secedera — Bi-Centenary celebration.
'HK opening of the present century was signalized by
an event of the utmost significance and importance
to Ireland, and hardly less so to the rest of the
Empire. Scarcely had the rebellion been su[)pressed,
when the question of a legislative union between Great
Britain and Ireland began to attract public attention. In
Cromwell's time, such a union had been effected with the
happiest results. At the Restoration it had been abandoned,
but the remembrance of its benefits still lingered in the
public mind, and led some of the more thoughtfid of the
Irish people to cherish a desire for its renewal . In tlie early
part of the last century, this desire became widespread, and
in 1704, the Irish Parliament presented a memorial to the
crown, praying for a firm and strict union with England.
Such a political constitution had been already arranged
between England and Scotland, and it would have been an
eminently wise and salutary proceeding if Ireland had
KKOM 1800 TILL 1S2!). 235
Imcii in«-Itiil<><l ill its |irovisi()ii.s. Hut (lio KnirMsli m.-iiiufiic-
turciH and iiicicliiiutH, ima^iiiiii*^ they huvv i'l tVeo coinituMcial
iiitereoiUHO h(;tw(!(Mi tlio two countries the C(M*taiu ruin of
their irit(M"estH, threw (liUiciilticH in tlm way, and the »»rayor
of tho Triwh logishitiin? was disreganhMl. No more unfortu-
nate occurriMic'o could have taken plac(\ It lost to England
tho hest opportunity that has over arisen for Itinding the two
countrioH together in ties of firm and enduring friendship.
Had Ireland been admitted to the enjoynuuit of free trade,
and all the advantages of English citizenship, the two
countries, united hy identity of interests, would soon have
become one in aim and sympathies. English capital would
have found in Ireland a safe and [)roti table investment, tlie
natural resoui-ces of the country would have Ixjen developed,
industries that supply labour and create wealth would have
been multiplied, and the island, in consequence, enriched by
constant accessions to its riches and pros[)erity, would long
ago have abandoned its disloyalty and turbulence, and
become as contented an 1 law-abiding as either England or
Scotland. When the project was now revived, the opposition
came from Ireland itself. Under the mistaken api)rehension
that all its material int(!rests, as well as its national dignity,
would suffer by the [)roi)osed scheme, it shrank from a closer
union with the larger and more powca-ful kingdom on the
other side of the channel. The discussion which a measure
of such importance provoked had not proceeded fa?' until it
became evident that the government were resolved on
carrying it. The Protestant portion of the i)0[)ulation, with
few exceptions, was strongly in its favour. Tlie Episcopal-
ians, justly regarding the project as certain if accomplished,
to lend additional security to the existence of the National
Church, gave it cordial support. The Presbyterians, looking
forward to the United Parliament in London with a measure
of confidence and regard (hey had never been able to accord
236 PUESBYTERIAN CHURCH IJI IRELAND.
to an IHsli leiiislature. hecauso tliev saw in it an inllncntial
Scotcli ehinicint, that mii^lit prcsmaaMy Im! r(;lio(l on tor the
protection of Presbyterian interests, were not unfavourable
to the scheme. The chief o[)position was to be expected
from the Romish hierarchy and priesthood ; but tlie govern-
ment succeeded in disarming their hostility by hohling out
to them the prospect of early relinf from the repressive
measures that still bore heavily on the Romish comnnmion,
as well as of a State provision for the maintenance of the
Romish religion. Though no o))position was likely to be
offered by the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, the
government, desirous to conciliate their support, encouraged
them to hope for an inci'case of the Regium Donum, and
the establishment of a university at Armagh, in which their
candidates for the ministry would be educated. Still, it was
in parliament that the question was to receive its final and
conclusive settlement. In the House of Lords, the project
encountered hardly any opposition; but in the House of
Commons it was only carried after a hard fought battle, in
which the combatants on both sides exerted themselves to
the utmost. On the final division the vote stood, in the
Upper House, 76 to 17, and in the Lower, 153 to 88. On
the 1st of August, 1800, the bill received the Royal assent,
and on the 1st of January, 1801, the two islands, long
united under one crown, were united under one legislature.
The Union was carried, it is well known, by the grossest
bribery and corruption, but, none the less has it proved of
immense advantage to Ireland. Unsatisfactory as is the
condition of that country to-day, it is far in advance of
what it was when it was consummated ; and it will be
immeasurably in advance of what it is to-day, when the
Irish people shall have learned to turn a deaf ear to the
disloyal counsels of the sordid and selfish agitator, and to
seek in the paths of |)eaceful industry and honest rivalry.
FROM 1800 TILL 1S29. 237
the road to progress and ])i'os|)erity. Groat Britain is, at
once, their natural and l)eat ally, and an intelligent regard
to the true inteivsts of their country should coiistrain them
to seek by all legitimate means to strengthen rather than to
sever the bonds thai make them an integral part
of an Em|)ire, that, foi- wealth and })Ower, love of liberty
and reverence for religion, stands unrivalled among the
nations of the earth. The lachrymose winnings over the loss
of their nationality and inde})endence alleged to have
resulted from the union, in which their V)latant orators are
wont to indulge, are merely the vapid frothings of charlatan
politicians, seeking for the bas(;st purposes to play upon the
prejudices of an ignorant and excitable populace. The
Union could not deprive them of nationality, for a nation,
in the proper sense of the tei in, they never were ; and
instead of curtailing it largely increased their freedom.
Under the shelter of its jnotection they enjoy the widest
liberty ; and if they are still obliged to submit occasionally
to legislation of a restrictive and repressive character, it is
because they have not yet learned to disregard the misleading
haranijues of a race of traffickers in sedition and crime that
seems to be indigenous to their soil.
In their determination to carry the Union, the government
were profuse in issuing bills of })romise, but when the day
of payment came, they were not equally prompt in redeeming
them. The ])romise to the Presbyterians to establish a
university at Armagh, in which their candidates for the
ministry might be educated, was (piietly abandoned, but the
engagement to increase the Royal bounty was ultimately
fulfilled. Wlien the proposed augnientation was first publicly
announced, it was h;<iled with the liveliest satisfaction on all
hands, as it was found to be the largest addition by far that
had evei" been made to the grant. But when full particulars
came to be known, the satisfaction with which its first
238 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
announcement was hailed underwent considerable diminution
in many quarters. Hitherto, the church had been allowed
to manage the endowment as she saw fit, and with a few
exceptions, in which discrimination was made in favour of
weak frontier congregations, the })rincii)le of an equal ai)pro-
priation had regulated its distribution. But now the govern-
ment took the matter into its own luinds, and undertook to
appoint an agent, who, it may be here mentioned, was always
a minister of the church, at a yearly salary of £400, to dis-
tribute the endowment according to a plan arianged by itself,
in which the congregations were divided into three classes,
according to their numerical and ^nancial strength, and were
to receive respectively £100, X75, and £50 per annuni. As
the new plan of distribution discriminated in favour of the
stronger and wealthier congregations, it produced no little
dissatisfaction among the poorer and weaker, but the minis-
ters as a hody came ultimately to acquiesce in it gratefully,
for whilst, in many cases, their appropriations were more
than trebled, in no case, did they fall much below double the
largest they had ever previously received. The Seceders
did not share in the augmentation, yet, though the new
regulations concerned the Synod of Ulster and the Pres-
bytery of Antrim alone, they were loud in their denun-
ciation, and eagerly took advantage of the dissatisfaction
they })roduced in many congregations. Some of them
went even so far as to say that if the government were to
propose to extend to them a like favour, they would meet
the proposal with a prompt and indignant rejection, if it
were accompanied witli the objectionable classification
arrangement. Neither their consciences nor their principles,
they alleged, would allow them to accept it. But when the
hour of trial came, tlieir princi})les and their consciences
alike were found to be of a more pliant and yielding charac-
ter than they imagined. A few years afterwards, in response
FROM 1800 TILL 1829. 239
to their repeated and urgent apj)lication, their endowment
was also hirgely increased. On the plea that their poverty,
not their will consented, they readily accepted the offered
boon, though it was accompanied with the classification
princijle, rendered still more objectionable by its being
arranged on a lower scale, the three classes into which their
congregations were arranged receiving respectively, £75,
X50, and £iO annually. One of the ministers of the body,
however, was more loyal to principle and conscience. The
Rev. James Bryce, Aghadoey, near Coleraine, refused to
share in the grant on the terms of the new arrangement,
and became the founder of a small sect, on the basis of the
A oluntary principle, which has never been able to attain to
much beyond a barely visible existence. In 1838, the gov-
ernmeiit abandoned the obnoxious classification system, and,
on certain conditions, agreed to grant £75, Irish currency,
to all the ministers of both Synods.
The opening of the present century witnessed the com-
mencement of a new and happier era in the history of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Symptoms of a revived
life and of an early return to evangelical principles began
to manifest themselves in many quarters. Throughout all
the darkness and deadness of the previous century, there
never had been wanting a few Elijahs who had steadfastly
refused to bend the knee to the reigning idols. The
number of such faithful and zealous ministers of the word
had now increased considerably, and, as the centuiy advanced,
fresh accessions were constantly made to their ranks till, long
ere it had completed the one half of its course, the church
held in her service a ministry that, for soundness in the
faith, learning, and piety, have rarely been exceeded in any
branch of the church of Christ. Other causes contributed
to the revived life that now began to thrill her half-lifeless
form. In 1798, an Association whs formed at Armagh,
240 PUESBYTKIIIAN C'lIUIlCH IN IRELAND.
under tlie designation of "The Evangelical Society of Ulster,"
for the })iir[)Ose of establishing a system of itinerant preach-
ing throughout the towns and villages of the province. A
few of the ministers who were active members of this
society belonged to the Established Church, and a like
number to the Synod of Ulster, but most of its clerical
supporters were connected with the Secession body. The
society was strictly non-denominational, and aimed exclu-
sively to })ioniote the interests of true religion among the
people. To aid in carrying on its work, the Association
a})plied to the London Missionary Society for itinerant
preachers. The application was cordially entertained. The
preachei-s sent did nuich to promote the great object the
society had in view. Though it })rofessed to maintain a
strict neutrality in reg< rd to denominational interests, as the
agents employed were, for the most part, connected with the
English Independent body, congregational principles began
to find a foothold in Ulster. Se^^eral of the Secession
ministers, who had been brought into close intercourse with
the English preachers, withdrew from that body, and
became pastors of Indejiendent congregations. The only
minister of the Synod of Ulster who followed their example
was the Rev. Alexander Carson, one of the ablest ministers
it could count on its roll. In 1798, Mi-. Carson was ordained
to the pastorate of the Presbyterian congregration of
Tobermore ; in 1805, he adopted the system of the
Baptists, and left the Presbyterian fold. He was an able,
evangelical, and successful minister of tho word, and as an
author won high distinction. His treatise on Baptism, its
Mode and Subjects, is probably the best defence of the
})eculiar views of the Baptists that has ever appeared.
Congregational princii)les, however, have never made much
headway in Ireland. Episcopacy and Presbytery still con-
tinue to divide the Protestant population of the kingdom,
FROM 1800 TILL 1829. 241
the Presbyterians precloiniiiating largely in Ulster, and the
Episcopalians in the other })rovinces.
The great majority of the Presbyterian people of Ulster
had never abandoned their atttachment to the creed of
their fathers ; but they now began to manifest a deeper
interest in evangelical truth. As vacancies occurred in the
congregations of the Synod of Ulster, a very decided
preference was shown for orthodox candidates. Happily
the Synod, about this time, took a step which tended
very materially to strengthen their revived interest in a
pure gos[)el, and to hasten the new Reformation that had
now set in. At the annual meeting in 1809, it ap-
pointed a committee to devise means for sup})lying bibles
on easy terms to the humbler classes within its communion,
and the unexpected success that attended the effort bore
witness to the restored life that was now beginning to lift
the church up out of long-existing deadness and formality,
and to start her on a career of renewed and greatly
increased usefulness. The new scheme was not a spasmodic
and temporary movement, born of a sudden im[)ulse and as
suddenly expiring. On the contrary, it was steadily and
successfully maintained for years till the formation of the
Hibernian Bible Society, with a similar object, but on a
much more extensive scale, superseded the necessity for its
existence. About this time also, a missionary spirit began
to make itself very d(;cidely manifest in the Synod ; but,
as we purpose devoting a chapter exclusively to the
missionary work of the chui-ch from the earliest years till
the present time, we shall say nothing further at present in
regard to this cheering outflow and evidence of the revived
life that now, in various ways, like the first streaks
of dawn, was giving promise and assurance of the near
approach of a brighter and better era in its history.
When the Almighty has a great work to be done, he
16
242 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
never fails to provide suitable i trii mentality. When he
proposed to restore to Christendom the gospel which had
become overlaid and hidden by Romish corruptions, he
raised up Luther, in Germany, Calvin, in France, Cranmer,
Latimer, and Ridley, in England, John Knox, in Scotland
and others, elsewhere, whom he qualified for the great
undertaking. And now when ho. graciously purposed to
bless the Presbyterian Church in Ireland with a much
needed Reformation, he gave to her a Reformer whom he
endowed with every qualification necessary for the successful
accomplishment of the work.
In the year 1788, and at a time when the Presbyterian
Church in Ireland was drifting towards the farthest point
in her declension, there was born within her communion a
child that was destined in years of manhood to lead her back
from her wanderings, and to restore her to her ancient
purity and zeal. The name which the new-born child
received in baptism was Henry Cooke, a name that ere long
came to be a household word in the homes of Ulster, and
that will never cease to be pronounced with reverence in
every section of evangelical Christendom. Horace, in one of
his immortal odes, describes himself as "ex humili potens"
that is, rising to his greatness from a lowly degree. The
same description is applicable to Henry Cooke. His father
was a small farmer, and of English origin, being "descended
from a family of English Puritans, who, early in the seven-
teentii century, left their native Devonshire, in the train of
the Hills and Conways, and settled in County Down." His
mother was a Howie, of the same stock as the author of
" The Scots' Worthies," and a womnn of more than ordinary
force of character, intelligence, and piety. He was born at a
place called Grillagh, near Maghera, in the county of Derry.
Two other distinguished divines were born in the same
locality, namely Dr. Adam Clarke, author of a well known
FKOM 1800 riKL lS:i9. 243
coininoutiiiy on tlio scripturi^s, and Dr. AI(\\jin(liM" Carson
to whom we have ah'eady had occasion to refer. When i
mere youth he entered the University of Glasgow, and,
before he had fully com})leted the twentieth year of his age,
he had gone throu<;h the entire college curriculum then
required from entrants into the ministry of the Irish Pros-
bytei'ian Church. A ft^w months after leaving coUge, he was
ordained to the pastoral oversight of the congregation of
Duneane, near Randalstown, County Antrim, and, in 1811,
three years after his settlement at Duneane, he received and
accepted a call to Donegore, near Temjjlepatrick, in the
same county, where he laboured with much diligence and
success for se^en years.
Henry Cooke was a born orator, naturally gifted with
every qualification required to make a powerful and
persuasive speaker. He [)osses.sed a voice of the richest and
most varied compass, a striking and inn)ressive appearance,
a dignified and stately demeanour, a vivid and fertile
imagination, a keen and penetrating intellect, a memory
that seemed never to let go any thing it once got hold of,
an inexhaustible vein of humour, a marvellous power of
sarcasm, and a heart ready to respond to emotions of the
deepest and most diverse character. All his great natural
advantages he sedulously cultivated from his earliest years.
He read carefully the writings of the great rnastei-s of
English eloquence, statesmen, poets, and divines, and studied
diligently the literature of ancient Greece and Kome. He gave
special attention to elocution, and readily acquired remark-
able ease and grace of gesture, and such mastery of his voice
that, without any apparent exertion, he could make himself
heard by the largest audience. It is not surprising, therefore,
to learn that when he became a minister of the gospel, he
s])eedily attracted public attention, and rose in a few years
to a foremost place in the body to which he belonged.
244 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
In \f>\0, an ov(Mit occurrcKl tli.it ruvealffl tiioio doarly tho
existenco of Ari.uiisni in tli(( Synod of Ulster. A miniHter
of the Synod was auspended by his Presbytery for immorality.
He appealed to the Synod against the sentence of the Pres-
bytery, and during tho hearing of the ap})oal he iivowed
himelf an Arian. His aj)peal was sustained, and it was also
carried by a majority that, if re-elected by the people, he
might be re-instated in his congregation. In a Synod,
embracing nearly two hundred clerical members, only seven-
teen were found willing to protest against this strange
decision. It was now placed beyond ail controversy that
Arianism had spread to an alarming extent in the Synod.
One member openly declares himself to be an Arian; a
majority see nothing dangerous or reprehensible in the
avowal ; only seventeen seem to think otherwise.
This event made a profound imi)ression upon the mind of
Mr. Cooke. He saw that the church of his fathers, to the
ministry of which he had consecrated his life and labours,
was in danger of being leavened throughout with error of a
most dangerous and destructive character, and he resolved
that, with the aid of divine help, he would make an effort
to purge it of the fatal poison. His mother had diligently
sought to imbue his mind with the knowledge and love of
the truth, and all his subsequent studies had only tended to
strengthen and contirm his faith in its life-giving principles.
These principles found a prominent place in all the sermons
that he preached and the cordiality with which they were
generally received convinced him that, however far many of
the ministers of the church may have wandered from the
faith they were supposed to profess, the laity were, in the
main, still loyal to its doctrines. He was now beginning to
emerge from obscurity, and to be widely known as the ablest
and most promising young preacher the church held in her
ranks. Yet, he was still a very young man, and as the
FROM 180U TILL 1829. 245
lea(l<^rs of tlio Now Liglit party vvero mon of (listin<,'uiHlie(l
ability, and had the business of tlie Synod hirgcly in their
hands, he felt tliat ho niij,'lit do more harm tlia'i jjood to the
cause lie loved by rushin*,' prematurely into the warfare that
he now saw lying before him. Preparation was needed, and
to prei)aration he gave himself with an ardour that has
seldom been exceeded. Four o'clock every morning found
him in his study; but as the duties of a largo country ))arish
and the want of books were necessarily serious hindrances,
with the consent of his congregation, and the leave of the
Presbytery of which he was a member, he returned to
college, spending two sessions at Glasgow and one at Trinity
College, Dublin. Shortlv after the close of these renewed
collegiate studies, he was called to the pafctorate of Killy-
leagh, Co. Down, a large country parish, lying along the
shores of Lough Strangford, and containing a population
almost exclusively Presbyterian, and, for the most part, in
very comfortable circumstances. His settlement in this fine
parish was most providential. During his ministry hitherto,
he had been constantly breathing an atmosphere largely
charged with the malaria of New Light scepticism; but now
he was brought into close contact with several kindred
spirits, of whom Captain Sydney Hamilton Rowan, a leading
elder in the congregation, is deserving of s})ecial mention.
Captain Rowan was a scion of the noble House of Claneboy
and Clanbrassil, giand uncle, I may add, of the present
Marchioness of DufFerin and Ava. He was as eminent in
piety, as he was high in social standing, as well ins.tructed
in the Calvinistic theology of the Westminster confession as
he was ardent in attachment to its biblical creed. The
young pastor of Killyleagh found in this })ious and devoted
elder an able and judicious counsellor, and in all the great
ecclesiastical struggles on which he was soon to enter, he was
greatly aided and encouraged by his wise advice and hearty
co-operation.
24G PKKSHYTKRrAN CHURCH IN IRKLAND.
Thr<M' yraiK aftor Mr, Cooker's settleinont in Killylcaglj, an
eveMit oc(!unv(l tliat lnoiiijlit him into opoii conflict with Arian-
iam. Tiie Arian paj'ty, pcicjMvinijf tliat tlicn; was a turn in
the tide, and tliat tlie iii^iit of (ivangelical })rinci|)les was
spreading with a rapidity tliat gi've promise of complete
ascendency at no distant day, in the hope of in^.parting fresh
life to their waning cause, invited the Rev. T. Smithurst, an
English Unitarian niiiiister, to visit Ulster, for the purpose of
explaining and advocating clu^ir peculiar views. Mr. Smith-
urst was an able; and eloquent j)reacher, and where v»3r he
went rectiived a warm reception, especially from the wealthier
classes. His success seemed assured, but in an evil hour for
liis mission he ventured to '* beard the lion in his den," and
announced th.at he would deliver his next lecture in Killy-
leagh. The appointed day arrived; a great crowd assembled
to hear the doughty apostle of Ai'ianism from the other side
of the channel ; the lecture delivered was a fine oratorical
display ; the abettors of Arianism in the locality were
jubilant, imagining that they saw at hand the triumph
of their princij)les. But their jubilation soon received a
rude shock. Mr. Cooke, who, accompanied by his good
elder, Cai)tain Rowan, had been one of the first to [)ut in an
appearance at the great gathering, rose as soon as the flashy
orator had closed his address, and calmly announced that he
purposed, on the coming sabbath, and in his own pulpit, to
review and fairly refute by scriptural arguments every dogma
that had been advanced that day, closing by inviting the
lecturer to be jn-esent on the occasion, and by expressing his
willingness to meet him in public discussion any where in
Ulster, and at any time. The excitement was intense.
Ringing cheers greeted the announcement of the young and
intrepid defender of orthodoxy, who had already won for
himself a high place in the confidence and affections of his
flock. Few doubted his com[)etence to accomplish the task
FROM ISDU TILL 1820. 247
Yd had uii<l(M'tiiken, and all tlio fricndH of tlio trutli were
delighted with tho noble stand lie liad fcarlosslv taken in
defence of tlie cauKc tlu^y loved. Sunday came, a great
crowd, <^athered from far and near, filled the Presbyterian
nieetinii^-hoiise in Killyloagli to its utmost capacity, and hun-
dreds who could not find adnnssion clustered around the
doors an<l windows. The sermon was (nninently worthy of
the occasion. With the impaasioniMl (mer<^y of an inspired
messenger of heaven, the great preacher took up and tore to
atoms every semblance of an argument that had been urged
in support of Arian views, and with a force and efifective-
ness that commanded the admiration of the crowded
audience that hung in breathless silence u{)on his lips, he
stated and d(!fended the great fundamental verities of the
gospel. As lie closed a magnificent peroration ))y a power-
ful appcial to his hearers not to forsake the faith of their
martyred forefathers, and to rest continually in firm security
upon the Rock of Ages, — Jesus the Lord — God manifest in
the flesh, the air of firm resolve that gathered around every
brow, and the glow of manly enthusiasm that mantled every
cheek, showed that the appeal had found a response in every
bosom. Few there were in that vast assembly who did not
carry away with them a firmer grasp of the truth, a more
fixed purpose to stand by it till life's end, as well as a
feeling of deep inexpressible thankfulness to the King and
Head of the church, who had been graciously pleased to raise
up a great prophet in Israel, capable of defending the faith,
now more precious to them than ever, against all assailants.
The campaign against error thus auspiciously begun, Mr
Cooke was determined to prosecute. Hearing that the
imported apostle of Arianism had left Killyleagh and gone
elsewhere, he announced his determination to follow him
wherever he should go through Ulster and Ireland, and lay
bare the dangerous character of his teaching. His declared
248 FKKSUYTEKIAN CIIUKCII IN IllKhAM).
purpoHO ho wiiH prompt to (ixocute. " Wlierevor Siiiitliurst
Inctured, Cooko follow(!(l with a triumphant and witliering
reply. i'!very pulpit was opened to him. Thousands
crowded to hear him." The spirit of tlu! old days of tlu!
covenant was revived. The truth resumed its ancient
supremacy in Ulsti^r; th(! thousands and tens of thousands of
its Presl(yt(!rinn population were roused to such an intelligent
appreciation of its valiKJ that, lik(! their covcjuanted sires,
they were ready to surrender life itstilf rather than abandon
its life-giving principles. It was truly a day of great things
for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. What had been
intended for the destruction turned out for the firmer estab-
lisliment of her ancient creed. The heresy that had st(;althily
crept into her connnunion, paralyzing iier energies, and im-
pairing her usefulness, received a deathblow from which it
has never recovered ; her evangelical creed was more firmly
implanted in the intelligence and affection of her adherents,
and an impulse im})arted to her religious activity, that has
grown with the coming years and carried her forward to a
high place among the living churches of Christendom.
The battle had now been fought and won among the
l)eople ; but a harder battle remained to be fought in the
chui'ch courts. The New Light party was far from being
numerically strong, but it included in its ranks most of the
leading men in the Synod. Of these, Heni-y Montgomery
was by far the ablest. In his person, he bore the impress
of a king among men, and in his intellectual cai)acity and
miuital culture he had few superiors. He was born in the
same^ year as Cooke, and went through his college course at
Glasgow at the same time. Shortly after he was licensed,
he was settled as pastor of the congregation of Dunmurry,
in the neighbourhood of Belfast, where he laboured till his
death, in 1865. His distinguished talents and his great
power as an orator were universally recognized, and at au
FROM 1800 TILL 1829. 249
ouily period ho poho to ho the leiidtsr of tlie Now Li^jfht p.irty
in the Synod. Cook(i'.s first oncountor with Ariiiiii.sin in the
Synod was anytliiii;Lr Imt (nicomaj^ing. Kveu his hrothren of
the ortlio(h)x party refiis(!d to stand hy him, and iiad he been
an oi'diiiary man ho wouM piohahly have reiintpiished the
Htrnf,'fi;h! in despair, lint (Jooko was no ordinary man. Ho
was determined to drive Arianism out of tiie Synod, an<l a
temporary defeat had no power to alter iiis resohition. }[o
had the peoj)U,' vvitli iiim, and lie felt confident that the day
would soon come, if tlu; battle were only waged with energy
and skill, when he woidd have the Synod with him too.
His influence and popularity were continually on the increas(5.
In 18*24, he was elected moderator of the Svnod. This in
itself was encouraging. It showed that, notwithstanding
all the evil things the Arian party had to say of him, he
commanded the confidence and esteem of his brethren. At
the meeting of the Synod at Coleraine, in the year follow-
ing he won his first triumjdi, but it was not till the nieeting
at Strabane, in 1827, that his first decisive victory was
obtained. At this meeting, he moved that the members of
the Synod should bo called upon to declare whether or not
they believed the answer to the Gth (juestion in the Shorter
Catechism, afiirming the doctrine of the Trinity. The debate
that followed began on a Thursday and did not terminate
till the following Saturday. Cooke and Moni-gomery, the
leaders of the two i)arties, delivered speeches of great
brilliancy and power. Cooke did not now stand alone. He
was ably assisted by Kobert Stewart, minister of the con-
gregation of Broughshane, Co. Antrim, who, in clearness
and cogency of reasoning and dialectic power, was surpassed
by no member of the Synod. The vote, when taken, showed
that whatever hold New Light principles may at one time
have had u[)on the Synod, it was now almost gone. Of
those present, 117 ministers uid eighteen elders voted in
250 PIIESBYTEIIIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
favour -of the motion ; two only voted against, and eight
others declined voting.
At the annual meeting of the Synod, held uo Cookstown
in the summer of the following year, the battle was lenewed
with ;in earnestness on botli si<les that showed that the
decisive hour of the struggle was near at hand. Cooke was
determined that however those members of the Synod who
entertained New Light principles should be dealt with, the
door should be effectually closed against the admission of
others of like sentiments. Accordingly, he proposed that a
committee should be appointed to examine candidates for
licensure or ordination, with a view to (exclude from the
sacred office all who either denied the doctrines of the
trinity, original sin, justification by faith, and regeneration
by the Holy Spirit, or who appeared to be destitute of vital
godliness. In support of his motion, he delivered a speech,
in which all his great powers shone with unwonted brilliancy.
Montgomery followed with a speech hardly less brilliant and
powerful. As, at the })receding Synod, Stewart of Brough-
shane took part in the debate, delivering an address which
showed that if wanting in the graces of oratory that distin-
guished the two great combatants, he was inferior to neither
of them in power of close argumentative discussion. Piling
argument upon argument he raised around the cause of
ti'uth a tower of defence that was absolutely impregnable.
The motion was carried by an overwhelming majority in the
largest meeting of the Synod that had yet been held in
Ulster. A committee, consisting of well known and decided
Trinitarians, was appointed to carry out the decision. It
was an hour of triumph for Cooke, as well as for the cause
he had so persistently and successfully sustained. During the
previous six years he had fought the battle in the Synod
with unflagging energy. At the meeting held at Newry, in
18'J2, when he first stepped into the arena, he stood alone.
FROM 1800 TILL 1826. 251
As Kiiccoeding meetings wore liold, his position became more
and more encoiuaging. And now, the hour of triumph had
come. The Arian party must either withdraw from the
Synod, or submit to sure and speedy extinction. They chose
the former alternative. At a convention held at Belfast,
on the 16th of October, 1828, they drew up a remonstrance
to be laid on the table of the Synod at its next annual
meeting, pi'otesting against its recent action, and announcing
their intention, if it were not repealed, to withdraw from
the jurisdiction of the Synod, and to form them^^slves into
a separate association. This document was immediately
published and circulated all over the country, adding to the
excitement that for yeare had disturbed the quiet of every
Presbyterian congregation and home in Ulster. Meanwhile,
another event occurred that greatly increased the prevailing
excitement. At this time, a long felt want had been sup-
plied, and most of the candidates for the ministry of the
church rfcoived their education, not as formerly, at one or
other of the Scottish Universities, but at an institution that
had been some years before established at Belfast. Unhap-
pily, this institution from the first W}us largely under Arian
control, and now, when the excitement ran high, a professor
was aj)pointed to the chair of moral philosphy who was
strongly suspected of holding Socinian sentiments. Sticli a
proceeding was certain to provoke discussion. When the
college was opened, the Synod had agreed to sanction the
attendance of its students for the ministry on its classes;
and it now became a quesLion whether the sanction should
be withdrawn. It was when the prevailing excitement was
roused into a yet higher pitch by this appointment, that the
Svnod of 1829 met at Lur^jan in the leafy month of June.
Mr. Cooke had been labouring night and day for months
previous, ti-avelling over the countr}', preaching generi"y
twice a day, and devoting a largc! part of the nights t-o
252 PKESHYTEHIAN CHUKCII IN lUELAND.
con'o.s|")oii(l(!iic(!, and tlic writing of reviews, oirculiirs and
addresses. Y(jt, notwitlistanding tliese mulLifarious and
exliausting lal)Ouis, he was one of the first to hn present.
As soon as tlie preliminary business of tlie court was over,
he moved a series of resohitions cliaHenging tl)e propriety
of tiie recent a{)pointment in the Belfast college. This action
brouj^ht him into direct collision with his i^ieat antaj^onist,
and led to a discussion signalized by dis[)lays of eloquence
that have seldom been sur[)assed in any assembly in the
world. T'e Arian party had already sustained several
crushing defeats, and knew that one still worse awaited
them, uidess they could silence Mr, Cooke, or in some way,
destroy his influence. Mr. Montgomery, their distinguished
leader, shared with them in this sentiment, and summoned
all his strength to secure for his party a signal victory at
the last moment. In a speech of nea)ly three hours duration,
and of maivellous l>rilliancy and powei-, he confined himself
mainly to a })orsonal attack of the moat damaging character
upon th(i champion of orthodoxy, charging him with uttering
contradictory statements at difTerent times and for diHerent
purposes, and with making assertions in the Synod at direct
variance with his sworn testimony before a parliamentary
committee in London ; closing with a (hicply affecting
peroration, in which, in tones of melting tenderness, he con-
trasted the stormy scenes of earth with the calm serenity of
that heaven that, lie trusted, would yet receive and welcome
to its embrace friends and foes alike. When he sat down,
there was, for a time, unbroken stillness. The audience still
remained under the spell of the gi-eat enchanter, but as they
began to br(!athe more freely, cheers, repeated again and
again, burst from the crowded assembly. The Arians were
jubilant, and the orthodox party were correspondingly crest-
fallen. They knew Mr. Cooke's eminent al)ility, and had
the fullest confidence in his high personal integrity ; but
FKOM IGOO TiLF. 1829. 253
uiifihlo fit oiK'c to ciist aside tlu; spell of tlic siruMziti^ and
b(5wiI(hM'iiig oratory, the jhoIoiil;*;*! ocIkxw ot" wliicli woro
still lin^^eiin^ in their ears, they gave way for the inoiiKMit
to the gloomiest a|.pr<diensioiiH.
When Mr. Montgomery closed his great speech, the synod
adjourned for half an hour. During the brief interval, Mr.
Cooke was as cool and collected as if nothing unusual had
happened. Others were treml>ling for tiio ark of God, not
lie. As lie miuglfMl fn^ely in the conversation and pleasantries
of the dinner table, he beti'ay(;d no symptom of dej)ression
or anxiety. "He had no time to prepare a defence. He
did not seem even to desire it." In the proud consciousness
of tlie rectitude of his own conduct, as well us of the
righteousness of the cause for which he had befni battling
for years, he caluily awaited the o[)portunity the reassembling
of the synod was sure to give him of defending both alike
from the attack of his great antagonist.
When the Synod reassembl(!d, the church edifice was
again crowdcid with an (sargely exp(!ctaiit throng. Mr. Cooke
immediately arose, and entere<l upon his defence. His
reception at tirst was any thing but encouraging. Not one
friendly voice greet(;d him with a cheer. Hut he had not
uttered many sentences till th(^ chilling coldness of his
first rece[)tion gave way to enthusiastic demonstrations of
ap[)lause, which were iep(;ated again and again with increas-
ing fervour, as one imi)assioned burst of the most thrilling
elo(|uence after another burst U})on the ears of the crowded
assembly. Frienrls and foes alike yi(dded to the power of
the great orator. They laughed, they wei)t, they cheered
in turn. No wonchu* that they did so. His speech, though
altogether unpremeditated, was one of the grandest exhibi-
tions of oiatory that ever rivetted the attention or enkindled
the enthusiasm of an audicsnct?. Many of those who heard
it affirmed that they had never till then felt the full power
254 PRESBYTERIAN (nilTRCiI IN IRELAND.
of eloquence, and that tlioy ncvcM* could liav(; imagined that
the human mind was capable of sucli an eiibrt, or that
human language could have produced such an effect. All
the physical energies of the speaker aj)ppeared to have come
under the mysterious power of an influence heavenly in its
origin. His face beamed with a radiance that seemed
not of earth. His eye, naturally bright and piercing as
an eagle's, shone with an unwonted brilliancy. His voice,
always fine and flexible, responding to the varying
emotions that swelled within his bosom, fell upon the
ears of the enra])tured listeners, now, in tones of deep-
est pathos, soft as the breathing of the summer evening
breeze; again, in tones of witliering scorn, or scathing
sarcasm, or scorching invective, or burning indignation, loud
as the cataract or awful as the thunder [leal as it rolls among
the mountains. He had no notes, yet not a point in the
speech of his groat antagonist was overlooked. He had no
documents, yet his marvellous memory supi)lied at will all
tlie proofs needed to re[)el every accusation. His defence
was irresistible. The convictions and tlie sympathies of
the Synod and the audience were alike won to his side, and
the deafening cheers, prolongs 1 for several minutes, in which
they found relief from the strain of their overwrought
feelings, when he sat down, proclaimed the final triumph of
orthodoxy and his own complete vindication from the atro-
cious calumnies with which he had been recklessly assailed.
Mr. Cooke's speech occupied more than two hours, and
when it closed, the excitement was so intense that it was
found impossible to transact any business and the Synod
adjourned. It virtually settled the Arian controversy in
the Synod of Ulster. Although the final issue was not
reached till some months afterwards, the Arians made no
attempt to renew the struggle. When the Synod assembled
again the next day, the resolutions that had been moved by
PROM 1800 TILL 1829. 255
Mr. Cooko won; o.inujd liy uii ovisiwlieliiiiiig iiiiijoiity.
Shortly afterwards, the leading Ariau ministers met in
Belfast and resolved to secede from the Synod. Accordingly
they withdrew, and formed themselves into a distinct body,
under the designation of "The Remonstrant Synod of Ulster."
Though they had long exercised a commanding influence in
the Synod, their numerical strength was now insignificant.
Of the two hundred and nineteen ministei*s on the roll
of the Synod, only seventeen went out. The out-going
party carried with them their endowments and ecclesiastical
buildings, but in some cases the majority of their con-
gregations left them and joined the Synod of Ulster.
Arianism, at best, is a cold and cheerless negation, with
nothing in it to satisfy the reason, or pacify the conscience,
or comfort the heart. It robs the Saviour of his high char-
acter as a saviour, and makes light of his salvation. It is,
therefore, incapable of imparting the faith that "worketh
by love, and purifies the lieai't, and overcomes the world,"
or of nourishing the hope that "maketh not ashamed." It
never was able to make headway among the people of
Ulster, and since the secession from the Synod of Ulster, it
has almost ceased to exist, the few congregations that still
adhere to its standard having, each, dwindled to the shadow
of a shade.
Mr. Cooke had now attained his object. The church of
his fathera was purged from a deadly heresy. And in a
way too most congenial to all his feelings ; nothing that
could be justly regarded as tyrannous in its nature had
been done. He had laboured long and patiently for this
end. When he first entered upon his self-imposed task,
he received little sympathy from the friends of orthodoxy,
who, reversing the scri{>tural order, were dis{)Osed to give
peace the precedence of purity. He had to encounter the
full assault of the Arian party that held in its ranko
256 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
several of tlie ablest moii in the church. He received
less symi)athy from tiie fmblic |)re.ss. Tlie leading news-
paper in Ulster was in the hands of the Arian party,
and constantly souglit to cover liis name with ridicule and
calumny. His family was already large and his means
limited. His health was sometimes so shattered by anxiety
and toil that his life was despaired of. Yet his resolution
was never shaken. His conrage was sustained by faith in
God. " I serve a good master," he wrote to Mrs. Cooke, in
the darkest period in the conflict; "it is for Him I struggle.
I must bear the cross if I would wear the crown. I am will-
ing, I am ready to spend all, yea every thing, in his service."
As the battle went on, friends in increasing numbers gathered
around him. And now, the great object for which he had
struggled for years with unflagging energy and perseverance
accomplished, he occupied the proudest position that ever
has been attained by any Presbyterian minister in Ireland.
His popularity was unbounded. He was universally and
justly regarded as the great agent in effecting the Arian
secession. His celebrity as an orator extended over the
empire, and wherever he appeared, either in the pulpit, or on
the platform, he was sure to attract an overflowing audience.
A small country town was felt to be too narrow and obscure
a field for his splendid abilities, and, towards the end of the
year 1829, he was transferred to Belfast, the metropolis of
Ulster, where he laboured for well nigh forty years, growing
in usefulness, popularity, and power, as the years rolled on.
The year previous, the leading Presbyterian congregation in
Dublin unanimously invited him to be their pastor, and
every effort was made to induce him to transfer his labours
to the capital, but he felt it to be his duty to decline the
invitation. The people of Ulster were proud of him, and,
as he had spent all his days among them, nothing could
induce him to separate himself from them. -^^- -, -
FROM 1800 TILL 1829. 257
It would be iinpossible to overestimate the value of the
work tliat Dr. Cooke — for ho had recently received the
degree of Doctor in divinity from Jefferson College in
the United States — liad now successfully accomplished.
Perhaps, the best conce])tion of it may be obtained by a
glance at the consequences that speedily followed. The
church was blessed with a great revival. The deadness that
for long had paralyzed her energies was succeeded by a
period of religious activity that far outstt-ipped the best
days of her previous history. From I7'2d to 1829, the
Synod added about seventy throe to the number of its
congregations. From 1830 to 1840, nc less then eighty-three
new congregations were erected. Fiom the year 1827, in
which the battle with Arianism was evidently approaching
a successful termination, till 1837, one hundred and seventy
congregations expended over half a million of dollars in the
building and repairing of houses of worship. Prayer
meetings were generally established, and missions were
supported with fresh zeal and liberality. Nowhere have
the beneficial results been more signallv manifested than in
Belfast. When the Arian strugg>. began there were only
two orthodox congregations in the town; now there are
at least thirty-five, and if other congregations which, though
not on the roll of the Assembly, are thoroughly Presbyterian
in doctrine and polity, be added, the number will be found
to be somewhere between forty and fifty.
All classes of Presbyterians took the deepest interest in
the Arian controversy, and shared in the joy of its suc-
cessful termination. The Covenanters or Reformed Pres-
byterians as they are now generally called rejoiced gi-eatly
in the triumph of the evangelical cause. Dr. Paul, of
Carrickfercfiis, a leading minister of the bodv, than whom a
sounder divine never lifted a pen on behalf of the truth,
contributed materially to the result by publishing a work
17
258 rilKSRYTKIlIAN ("IIURCH IN IKKLAND.
entitled "Refutation of Aiianism," marked by great cogency
and clearness of reasoning, and written in reply to .'i volume
of sermons published by Dr. Bruce, of Belfast, in support
of Arian views, — the first volume in which Arian sentiments
were openly avowed by an Irish Presbyterian minister since
the days of Emlyn. The Seceders shared no less in the
general joy. They had abandoned the Synod of Ulster,
chiefly on account of the toleration of serious error within
its communion, and now they hailed with the liveliest satis-
faction the restoration of its declared and un(iuestionable
allegiance to the orthodox standard. They had now grown
into one hundred and thirty congregations, and were coming
into increased prominence as a body through the eminent
ability of Dr. John Edgar, one of their foremost ministers,
who, as a divine, a philanthropist, and a temperance advo-
cate, had reached a high place among the distinguished men
of his time.
Subscription to the Westminster standards was always
the law of the Irish Presbyterian Church; but during the
ascendency of the New Light party the law in many cases
was openly set aside. When the church began to throw off
the Arian yoke, the law, in every instance, was enforced,
but explanations of objectionable phrases in the Confession
of Faith were allowed. It was soon found, however, that
this arrangement was both useless and inconvenient, as the
objections offered were generally of a very frivolous character.
Accordingly, the Synod, at a meeting held at Cookstown in
1835, reaffirmed the principle of unqualified subscription.
This measure may be said to have completed the doctrinal
reformation of the Synod that Dr. Cooke had inaugurated
about a quarter of a century previous. It did more. It
paved the way for the re-establishment of intercourse with
the mother church in Scotland. During the latter part
of the preceding century, the mother and her daughter
FROM 1800 TILL 1829. 259
had hocoiiK! esti!ing(Ml, and so far had the feeling of
estrangement been carried, tliat in 1799 the (Jeneral Assem-
bly passed a law which ha<l the effect of excluding Irish
Presbyterian ministers from the pulpits of the Scottish
Establishment. In 1818, the Arian party induced the
Synod of Ulster to retaliate, and to declare that the
ministers and licentiates of the Church of Scotland should
not be admitted to any of its pulpits. This resolution was
moditied in the following year and made applicable to vacant
congregations alone. As the evangelical party began to
regain the ascendency in the Synod, the irritation naturally
produced on both sides of the channel by these unfriendly
and offensive measures began to give way, and when the
Synod renewed the law of absolute subscrij)tion, the chief
obstacle to the renewal of the old and friendly intercourse
was removed. In May, 183G, the General Assembly unani-
mously agreed to admit the members of the Synod once more
to ministeiial fellowshij). This happy occurrence was fol-
lowed by an event of still greater interest and importance.
The return to the law of unqualified subscription by the
Synod of Ulster opened the way for the return of the
Secession body. Both Synods began to feel strongly the
desirableness of union. As there was really nothing to keep
them apart, they felt that they would present a melancholy
spectacle of narrow bigotry and sectarian bitterness if they
should remain separated. The students under the care of the
two Synods were the first to move publicly in the matter.
They met and discussed the subject among themselves. They
sent memorials, praying for union, to both Synods, at their
annual meeting in 1839. Similar memorials from various
congregations and from a public meeting consisting of mem-
bers of the different Presbyterian Churches in Belfast were
presented at the same time. The movement required only
to be begun to be carried forward to a speedy and successful
260 IMlKSFlYTKItlAN CMI'IUH [N lUKLANI).
issiio, Ncgotiiilions wvvo iimnedijitcly sot on foot ; all pre-
liiiiiiiiirios woro ojisily iiiid Siitisfiictorily settled, aiul on Fn<l)iy,
the loth of July, 1840, tli(i Union was happily consuimuab'd
at Jiclfast. Tho Rov. I)i-. liauna, who had been for nearly
half a century pastor of th(i Koseinary Street Church, Belfast,
and who had for long lu^en ])rof('ssor of divinity in the Bel-
fast College for tho Synod of Ulstei*, was unanimously chosen
moderator, and the united body was constituted under tin;
title of "The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
in Ireland." Tho Rev. Patrick Macfarlane, of Greenock,
the Rev. James Begg, of Libberton, the Rev. Robert
Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, and David Maitland
Makgill Crichton, Ksq., of Rankeillur, were present as a
deputation from the venerable the mother Church of Scot-
land, and presented her cordial congratulations on the happy
event. Scarcely two hundred years V>eforo, the first Presby-
tery had been constituted at Carrickfergus, consisting of five
ministers and four elders. Now, this small Presbytery had
expanded into a General Assf mbly, comprising thirty-thiee
Presbyteries, with four huadred and tliirty-thiee congrega-
tions under its care, of which two hundred and ninety-two had
belonged to the Syi.od of Ulster, and one hundred and forty-
one to the Secession body.
The union, thus happily consummated, was hailed with
un mingled joy by the whole Presbyterian population of
Ireland, but by none was it welcomed with livelier satisfac-
tion than by Henry Cooke. His high christian character,
his extraordinary abilities, his long and zealous labours, had
contributed mainly to its consummation. By purging the
Synod of Ulster of Arianism he had rendered it t)Ossible,
and by direct and active exertions for its accomplishment,
sui)plemented by tlie cordial co-0})erations of many able men
in both bodies, he had made it a reality. The services that
he had thus rendered to the cause of Presbyterianism in
FROM 180f> TILL 1829. 261
Iroliiiul, JiH woll as tho sorvicos that for well nigh thirty
yoarH afterwards ho coiitimu'd to iemU)r, eiititlo him to
be held in affectionate and grateful renienibiance by Irish
Presbyterians, and by all to whom the interests of true
religion are [)r(5ciou8, as long as the sun and moon endure.
The Union Ik* did so much to bring about, by removing
jealousies and [jrcyudices that had be(m growing and gather-
ing strength for well nigh a century, and by uniting into one;
solid compact body the divided bands of the Presbyterian
family, elevated the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to a
position of respectability and influence to which otherwise it
never could have attained, and invested it with a power
for the successful accomplishment of all the purposes for
which a church exists, which otherwise it never would have
known. From the day of its first plantation in Ulster, it
had proved a well-spring of life to the land ; and now, it
went forth in immeasurably augmented strength to shed the
light of the gospel and to pour strcuims of enlargc^d christian
benevolence, not only throughout Ireland but throughout
many other lands besides, making waste places glad and
deserts to rejoice and blossom like the rose.
Five years after the Union was consummated, the Bi-cen-
tenary of the organization of the first Presbytery arrived,
and it was resolved to celebrate the event by upj)ropriate
services. Dr. Cooke, who was Moderator of the General
Assembly at the time, proceeded to Carrickfergus, and on
the lOtli of June, 1842, preached a sermon from the words
in the 51st Psalm, from which the Rev. John Baird had
preached on the same day of the month, two hundred years
before. A yet more practical mode of celebrating the
event was adopted in the establishment of a •' Bi-centenary
Fund," to aid in the sup[)ort of weak congregations in the
south and west of the kingdom, which speedily rose to the
respectable sum of seventy thousand dollars.
2C2 pREsnvTERIA^f rmincii in iukland.
CITAPTKU XrV.
THK f!HUR(;H IN HKIl MIHHIONAKY WORK,
Mission work in 1(H5— In 1710 and 171(J-A fund estalilished in 17l()— Efforts In
1798-181S-182(!-1S3I)— Mission to the Heatiien conteinplatfd In 1838-Two
missionarieH sent to India in 1813 -l'ro>,'rf8s of the work in India Mission to
the Jews— The (Jolonies— In Spain— At hotue- Missions generally— Results-
Benevolent Societies.
'HE Presbyterian Clmrch in Ireland, during the 17th
and the 18th century, had a hai'd struggki for
existence, and was necessari y so busily occupied
with the important task of strengthening hcu* stakes,
that she found few opportunities of engaging in the no less
important task of lengtliening her cords. Yet, all her
history through, she has never ceased to give evidence of
the existence of a true missionary si)irit within lier
communion. As early as 1645, and only three years after
she had begun to assume a rejjularlv orjjanized form of
existence, she engaged in a noble work to impart the know-
ledge of the truth to the Romanists within her immediate
reach ; and, in 1710, she engaged yet more earnestly in a
similar effort, and sent forth seven ministers and three
probationers, all of whom were able to preach in the Irish
language, to carry the gospel to the Roman Catholic population
of the island. This staff of Irish speaking preachers was in-
creased in 1716 by the addition of three ministers and three
probationers, all of whom were appointed to preach in succes-
sion in various districts as they should be afterwards directed.
A probationer from Argyleshire, Scotland, was also statedly
employed as an itinerant preacher. So encouraging was the
success that attended these efforts, that the Synod in 1717
THE CHURCH IN HKU MISSIONAKY WORK. 2C3
fonliiilly adoptod the tollowiii;; nisolutioii : — " (yOii.sMt'iiiig
it liiiH |>l«';is(!(l (Jod ill his good providenco to couiiUiiiauco
:md l>l«!ss our ciuU'avoiirH, to tlio couvoiHiou of Home, tiiis
Synotl will, in mi lmiiil>l(^ (h'junuhnico on tlu; lihissing of God,
continue to uho tlioir utmost endoavour.s to furtlior so good
:i work." In the Hiune your in wliicli tiii.s good work WiiH
commoncod, u fund was established at Dul)lin for supporting
and propagating tlie gosp(!l and tlio juinciples of Preshyter-
ianism ir» tlie south of Irtihmd, to vviiich liberal contributions
were mad«<, and by wliich the ends in view were materially
promoted. In 1798, " The Evangelical Society," supported
chiefly by the Secession body, was organized for the purpose
of carrying on a system of itinerant preaching throughout
the north of Ireland. In 1826, "The Synod of Ulster
Home Missionary Society " was established, which, after a
sickly existence of three years, pas.sed away in 1829. lu the
year following " The Presbyterian Missionary Society" was
formed, which })ossessed much more vitality and vigour than
its predecessor. In 18 30, the contributions to this society
had risen to the respectable sum of $6,000 for the year.
The Secession body signalized the union of the Burghers and
Anti-burghers in 1818, by a vigorous effort to plant the
standard of Presbyterianism in many districts where it had
been hitherto almost unknown.
As yet no effort had been made to send the gospel to the
heathen. But, in this respect, the Irish Presbyterian
Church was not singular. Up till this time, very little had
been done by any of the churches of the lieformation
towards the evangelization of the heathen world. Nor need
this greatly surprise us. Like the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland, these churches had all had a hard struggle for
existence. It was through many trials, and in the face of
many obstacles that they had at length arrived at a position
of stability and strength. All the energies that, in their
264 FJIKHHYTKKIAN (JIIIIIU-'M IM IKKIiANI).
Htnif^'^liii',' ooiiditioii, tli(;y Imd Ixion uhlc !,(> |>iil lortli liud
\)U('M (l(5iri}iii(l(!(i \>y tli(! Iioiric; ficM, oc, if thoy had IxMiii
dinjctod, to Horno oxtcnt, to otlitir IuimIh, tluiy liad \)(iv.n
«x(!iti;d for tlio purpOHfi of Hiifjplyin*' with r(;li<,MouH oidin-
jiiicoH thoHo of thoi?- iiKimhorH wlio liud goiu; fortli fnjin
their raiik.s to liiul hoin(!K tlinn;. Tlio fi(;hl wan thciu tlio
world, aH it is now. liut this wid(; ficiid wan clowod, for tho
nioHt part, a^'ainst tho outraiico of tho rui.ssionary ; and ov(5ii
if it liad l)(!Oii aH open to hin admiHsion as it is to-day, tho
churcljCH liad tho woalth ncsithor of tn(;n nor iiunw.y imcssary
for its Huccossful occu()ancy, it siiroly indicatcis tliat th<5
groat King and llc^ad of tlio church, ayo, and of tin; Jiations
too, has gi-oat bJossiMgH in stor<;, in th(5 iKjt-far-od" futuro, for
our world and our rac(;, wluiji wc njnionihor that as tho Hold
has ')0(!n thrown opon for tho labours of tho missionary, and
tho facilities for r(;acliing it in all its parts havo boon
imnioasurably incnjasod, and th(! safoty of tho christian
labourer within ovory section of its vast extent 1 is boon
made socure, to a very largs ext(;nt, by the growing and
wid(!ly oxteiiding power of Christian governments, the
W(!alth of the churches has been incalculably increased, and,
what is }>ott(!r, the missionary zeal of tho churches has
received a marvellous (juickcining, and the number of capable
men, v/ho ar(j njady itrid willing to occupy tho waste places,
is (ivery year increasing at a I'ate as astonishing as it is
dfdightful. When (Janjy went to India, in 1793, the dawn
of the mod(!rn mission was just br(!aking. As the prescint
century operujd, H(5ven foreign mission societies had sprung
into exist<!nce, and a})Out 50,000 convei-ts had b<!en gathered
into the iold. Wluiu Qu(!<!n Vicloiia caiuo to tho throne
there were only ten missionary societies in Jiritain; now
there are not less than twenty-five, and if we include all
Europ(i and America, as many as one hundi-ed. In 1837,
there were jKirhajis 1,000 missionari<%s, lay and clerical, in
TriK vAinncu in hkk mihhionauy work. 2G/>
tlio fuiM, ;iii(l at most, (>0(),()()0 coji verts. Now, tliorc; nvc.
Horuo .■},70() rniHHionjii-i(!H, lay aii<l clerical, and tlir(!0 millions
of conv(^its. Tlicn, i\\v.n; wove, s(!aic(!ly any uativo pastors,
Tiow tli(!((! arc 'J,.'iO() oifJaiiK'd, and 'JT), ()()() nnordaiiuid nativ<!
proacJicrs. It lias Ix^cn calculatcid that at the end of the (irst
thvcio centnr'i(!s of" oii!- era, on(; lif"ti(!th of the; iao(^ was
chi'iHtiani/(Ml. Now, aft(;r scare*; a c(!ntury of (^dort, the
j)ioportion lias lisen to one-fouith.
From tlie time tliat tlie Arian piirty was constrain(;d to
withdraw from its rjinks, the Synod of Uls((5i- gav(! incr(!ase(l
attention to the; snl)j(!ct of tlx! (ix tension of th(i <^ospel, botli
at Ijoino and abi'oad. hi I8,'>H, a sp(!cial mcicting of the
Synod was ImjM for conference and j)ray(!r about missions.
At this meeting tlx; minist(!rs of the; Synod subscrilxid
$.'),000 to provido for tlw; salary of a missionary, and sliortiy
after th(! li«;lfast coni^re^jatiotis subscribed a iik(! amount
to KU|)|)ort another. The Sec(5ssion Synod " had a little
Btock of $1,500, which th(!y cast into tlu; common trcjasury."
In a reli;^ious p(!i'iodical of the <lay, a stuchmt mad(; a,n apjKial
to his ffdlow stud(!nts, uri^in^c tluun toriiideavoui" to laisc; $50
each, in testitnony of th(;ir inter(!st in the ^ood cause. Ilel'oio
the day of Union canu; in 1840, two m(;n fiad b(;en choscui
to {^o to India, aiul, on the veiy day on which th(! Union was
consummat(!d, th(!y won; solemnly H(!t apart by the; n(;wly
ov<^ii]i\/An\ Ass(!mbly to the work whi(;h they had willin;^ly
consented to und(;rtak(!. Krom this dav forward, the
missionary ar<lour of th(; church shon(! out in added bri;.(ht-
!i(!KH. At j)i*(r.s(!iit sIm! lias twcinty-tii !•<;(! missionai'ies liJ)oui"in^;
in the lorei^^n field, s(!vent(!(!n in India, an<i six in Uhina, of
whom nin(5 are femahis, supported by tlu; F(!mal(! Assocnation,
and en^a<;(;d foi- tlui most part in /(snana mission work in
India. 'Dm India mission, now (.'arried on foi- fifty y(5arH,
has been fairly successful. There ai'e at present in that field
nin(!ty-four nativ(5 christian work«!'s, a communicant's i-oll of
266 PRfiSBYtERIAN CIIURCII IN IltELAND.
tlii'OH hiiiidreJ and niiK^ty, a native clirisliaii [(ojdilatioii
nmnbomig about 2,000, a set of scliools, l^^uglish and
Vernacular, in wliicli close on 3,400 boys and girls are care-
fully educated, all of them rficeiving instruction in tin;
scrij)tures. Several churches liave been erected, and in some
of them, large congregations meet for worship evcay sabbath ;
in two of them native [>astors of their own choice have been
ordained. Fine hi<2:h school b\iildin<'s have also been erected
in Surat and Ahmedabad.
The General Assembly, in 1842, resolved to establish a mis-
sion to the Jews, and in the following year, the tirst Jewish
missionary was sent out to Pahvstine, with instructions to
co-operate with the missionari(;s of the Church of Scotland
who had been labouring in that field for some time. At
present, this mission is confined to two centres, Damascus, in
Syria, and Hamburg, in (Germany, with two missionaries
in each. In this department of her christian work, tlie
church has been favoured with a fair measure of success. In
Damascus, where the work is chiefly among the Syrian
population, there are one hundred and thirty-six communi-
cants, and twenty-seven native agents, with fourteen schools,
and an attendance of eiglit hundred children. In Hamburg,
where 40,01" Jews reside, not to speak of thousands more
that visit it from time to time, and in which two mission-
aries, an evangelist and a col})orteur are labouring, there
is an organized congregation with sabbath schools, prayer
meetings, a Young Mens' Society, and a large band of earnest
workers. A workshop has been opened, in which enquirers
can find employment while under instruction. Since 1875,
no fewer than twenty-two Jews, all young men, have been
received into the church, of whom one is a missionarv in
Hamburg, another is studying for the ministry, and a third is
in a seminary preparing to be a colporteur or evangelist.
Irish Presbyterians in great numbers have gone out to
THE CltURCII IN IIKR MISSIONARY WORK. 267
settle ill tlio distant colonics of th(i (Mii|)ir(\ TIk^ church has
followed them with her christian sympathy, and very pro-
perly sought to sup[)ly them in their new homes witli the
ordinances of the gosjxjl. In 1817, three minister's and one
licentiate offered to emigrate, the Secretary of State for the
Colonies having given encouraircnient for the emigration of
ministers to those distant lands. In 1H41, a colonial com-
mittee was apjiointed by the General Assembly to co-operate
with the Church of Scotland in sending ministers to the
Coloni(!s. It was not, however, till 1849, that the work was
begun in earnest. Up till 18G4, no less than sixty ministers
had been sent out, some to Australia, some to New Zealand,
and others to Canada. " helping the infant churches of tliese
lands to lay the foundations of the empires of the future
deej) and firm in the knowledge and worship of Almighty
God." Though the need for effort of this particular kind has,
in a great measure, passed away, the Assembly still continues
to follow its emigrant children in those distant lands with
warm christian affection, and to aid by pecuniary grants the
churches that minister to their sj)iritual wants, in carrying
on evangelistic work ivithin their different sj)heres, and in
maintaining colleges for the education of a native ministry.
At the Assembly of 1840, the Board of Missions was
instructed to open communication with the French Reformed
Cliurch. In 1846, the year of the great famine, $1,000
were rai.sed for the Continent. In 1855, a committee was
appointed to obtain money for the Waldenses, and in the
following year, a (ie])utation visited Ireland, and raised
$4,000. In 1856, a joint annual collection was ordered for
the colonial and continental missions, which were separated
twenty years afterwards, and the collections ordered to be
taken in alternate years. In 1870, the Ilev. Wm. Moore,
was sent as a missionary to Spain, who ])egan work in the
Capital, and some time after took a leading part in drawing
268 PRESBYTRRIAM CHUKCH IN IRELAND.
up the constitution and creod of what it was liopod would Imj
the Presbyterian Churcli of Spain. In 1883, Mr. Moore was
a{)pointed to take charge of the training college for native
pastors in Puerto Santa Maria, which last year was attended
by eleven students. By the transfer of two of the missions
of the U. P. Church of Scotland, the Irish Spanish mission
has been greatly enlarged and strengthened. It now includes
four fully equip[)ed stations in the south of Spain, and though
the work is peculiarly difficult, it is carried on with great
zeal, and in hopeful anticipations for the future.
The money that is now freely contributed to missionary
purposes is a most encouraging sign of the times. In 1837,
the mission collections of the Synod of Ulster amounted to
about $6,500 ; last year they reached, including donations,
bequests, and the proceeds of investments, the large sum of
$160,000. riie different Protestant missionary societies of
Europe and America raise yearly an amount considerably in
excess of $10,000,000! Nor has the expenditure of these
magnincent contributions been fruitless. It has been calcu-
lated that as a residt of modern missionary effort, there are at
present 3,000,000 converts, 800,000 communicants, 10,000
stations, and close on 5,000 organized churches. With such
facts before us, who can doubt the speedy arrival of the day
when "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea'? "
Whilst the Irish Presbyterian Church has diligently prose-
cuted mission work among the heathen and the Jews, she
has not overlooked home claims. Irish-speaking missionaries
have been appointed to labour among the Roman Catholics
in the south and west; scripture schools have been established
in Munster and Connaught; industrial schools also, in which
young females, whilst taught to read and made acquainted
with the scriptures, are instructed in knitting and embroid-
ery. In addition, colporteurs are em[)loyed to cany
THE CHURCH IN HKK MISSIONARY WOUK. 269
tlio scriptuivs and books of cliristiun inst.-uotion to the
homes of the people. The churcli also supports a sailors'
and soldiers' inission, a scheme for aiding weak congrega-
tions, an aged and iuHrm ministers' fund, a society To aid
the orplians of nn'nisters and ndssionari.s, and a society of
a similar kind, but much more comprehensive in its character,
designed to provide for the supj.ort and j^roper up-bringing
of every destitute oii.han within its pale. This society"^
since its formation, twenty-five years ago, has supplied 8,543
little helpless ones with all the comforts of a home, and all
the blessings of a healthy education. It has at present over
3,000 orphans under its care, and has recently erected an
Orphan Training Home at Belfast, the object of which is
sufficiently indicated in the name it bears.
270 I'llESUYTKRIAN ClIUKCH IN lUKIiAND.
CHAPTER XV.
TlIK C'lIUUCll IN HER EDUfJATIONAL MOVEMENTS.
Always Demanded a fiijfhly-fduoated MiiiiHtry— VariouH Attempts to establwh a
Home C'olle<,'o ~ lUlfast Royal A. rnstitutioii— Superseded hy (Queen's CoUejje—
Increased Liberality of the Government to the Assembly's College— Erection
of "The Majree Collef,'e" Of "The I'resbytcrian Colleu'e," Belfast— The two
united in a Faculty to (Jrant I)('j,'reeH in Divinity -The Desire of Knox— The
National System of Education- iSabliath Schools— Early Established in Kil-
more, Co. Down— Put Under Care of Presbyteries— i'early Examination-
Prizes — Contributions to Missions.
'HE Irish Presbyterian Churcli has si ways demandod
a thoroughly educated ministry to fill its pul[)its.
Daring the sevent(!enth century its clergy, with few
exceptions, were natives of Scotland and graduates
of Scottish Universities. During the following century
they were, for the most, of Irish birth, but educated either
at Glasgow or Edinburgh. Various attempts were made,
at different times, to obtain a home-trained ministry ; but it
was not till the present century had reached the middle of
its second decade that the desired object was accomplished.
Doubtless the ease with which the Scottish Universities
could V)e reached and the strong afiection still cherished for
the Mother Church were largely res})onsible for the long
delay. Even yet, Irish students find their way to one or
other of the Scottish Universities, though liome institu-
tions furnish as good a training as can be found any where
else. As early as 1670, a School of Philosophy for
the education of candidates foi' tlie ministry was established
at Antrim, under the presidency of the; Ilev. Thomas Gowan,
tlie Pi-esbyterian minister of the parish, a man of great
learning and eminent piety. Theology was taught in con-
EDUC'ATFONAL MOVEMKNTS. 271
noction with tliis institution, from 1671 till 1070, by John
Howe, a celchiJitfMl English divine, whose works are still in
extensive circulation, and who, during those years, resided
at Antrim in the capacity of chaplain to Lonl IVIassarene.
Schools of a similar kind were subscfjuently establishe<l at
Newtonards and Killyleagh, Co. Down ; but it was not till
the opening of the Royal Jielfast Academical Institution in
1815 that ade()uate provision was made for sup[)lying the
long-hilt want. This Institution was erected by the private
subscriptions of pui)lic-spirit(3d citizens of B(;lfasf, and in-
cluded a Colhigiate and a School dcipartment. Tla; (JoUegiate
department was arranged on the i>lan of the Scottish Uni-
versities, and attendance on its classes was sanctioned both
by the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod. It wjis
sustained mainly by a parliamentary grant, and embraced an
efficient staff of Professors who were elected by a Board of
Managers and Visitors. Although three-fourths of the largo
amount ex[)ended on its erection was contributed by Trini-
tarians, from the outset, and throughout its entire history-
it was largely under Unitarian control. From this circum-
stance, it never commanded the full confidence of the Pres-
bytei'ian Church, and more than one of the keen debates
in the Synod of Ulster during the Arian controversy
arose out of unsatisfactory api)ointments to its professorial
staff. It must, however, be acknowledged that it did good
work in its day. It was professedly non-denominational,
but Professors in Divinity, appointed by the several Synods
of the Pre.sbyterian Church, were permitted to lecture in
its class rooms. It thus furnished a full curriculum of
study to candidates for the ministry, and a large number
of the present ministers of the Assembly, as well of the
foremost Presbyterian divines of our tinujs, were trained
within it.i halls. In 1849, it was supei-seded by Queen's
College, Belfast, which is wholly a Government institution
272 PIIKSIJYTKIUAN (HUIKJH IN IRKLAND.
non-dcHomiiiMtional liko the institution it suporfiodcMl, and
intended to furnish the youth of the country, irrespec-
tive of race or creed, witii literary and scientific in-
sti'uction of the hii;liest grade. As tlie majority of the
students would necessarily be drawn fi'oni the Presbyterian
community of Ulster, it was confidently expected, when the
Government announced its puri)ose to erect tlie new College,
that in its gen(M'al arrangements it would be made as accept-
able as possil)le to tlie Presbyterian Church, This expecta-
tion was strengthened when it became known that the
Govei-nment liad at last agi'eed to deal more e(|uitaV)ly with
the Presbyterian Church, and to make additional provision
for tlie training of candidates for its ministry by increasing
the parliamentary grant to its theological i)rofessors, and by
the endowment of four new theological chairs. Nor has ifc
been disapi)ointed. The Presidents of the new College have
hitherto been invariably selected from the ranks of the
ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and a large number of
the Professors have been drawn from its members. The
Church, therefore, acted wisely when it was resolved to
take advantage of the College about to be ei acted at Belfast
for the literary and scientific training of her students for the
ministry, and to carry out a purpose that had been long
entertained, to erect at Belfast a college of her own for
their education in theology. At a special meeting held
at Cookstown, in 1844, the General Assembly had resolved
on such a step, and, in a short time, the sum of $15,000
had been subscribed for the purpose. But before final
action was taken, an event occurred which led to delay
in carrying out the design. In 1848, Mrs. Magee, widow
of the Rev. William Magee, Lurgan, died in Dublin,
leaving to the Church the large sum of $300,000,
$100,000 of which wei-e to be expended in the erection and
endowment of a College. It was the desire of many leading
EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 273
men in the Cliurch that tliis bequest shouM be devoted to
the erection and o(jiiii)nient of the pro})Ose(l Theological Col-
lege at Belfast, but the Trustees, to whoso management the
bequfist had been entrusted, saw fit to determine otherwise,
and to apply it to the erection of a College in Derry, which
should furnish a training in Arts as well as in Theology.
Accordingly, th(!y procccfded to carry out their design, but
various obstacles having arisini to prevent its early accom-
})lishmont, it was not till October, l^Oo, that "The Magae
Colhige" Derry, was o[)en for the reception of students. This
fine institution is furnished with a staff of able Profiissors,
and has already done noble service in promoting the cause of
higher education in Ulster, and in giving to the Church not
a few of her most successful ministers. Through the Royal
University of Ireland, with which it is affiliated, it possesses
University powers. Since its erection it has received several
large bequests, and of late a suite of residences for the pro-
fessors has been built by the liberality of its numerous
friends and supporters.
When it became certain that the Magee bequest would
not be available to aid in the erection and e<|ui))ment of the
proposed Theological Hall at Belfast, the movement that had
been started in 1844 was renewed. Additional funds were
collected, a suitable site was secured, the necessary buildings
were put up, and, in December, 1853, *' The Presbyterian
College " was formally opened by an address by the cele-
brated Merle d'Aubigne, the Historian of the German
Reformation. This College is a purely theological seminary,
and comprises a staff of seven professors, all men of mark,
and several of whom have won high distinction in the higher
walks of Christian authorship. Of late years, it has received
a number of splendid bequests ; one, a sum of $50,000 given
by the late Adam Findlater, Dublin, for the completion of
the College buildings, which was the means of raising nearly
18
274 rUESBYTERIAN CllUilCit IN lUELANt).
$55,000 nioro for t\w ColI('g(! Evulowniout Fund. Tii addi-
tion, Mrs. (jramble, wiilow of the Rev. Henry Oanihle,
Presbyterian minister of Clotighey, has donated to the Col-
lege "The (Janihle Lilirary," on wliich she expenchid $7,500
in memory of her husband ; a fine suite of chambers for the
resid(5nce of stud(!nts has been erected as a niemoiial to tlu?
late Professor (iibson, and prizes have been founded to the
amount of $2,000 a year. In 18(Sl, the theological profes-
sora of this and the Mp.gee College, Dcrry, were incoi'po-
rated by Royal Charter, as " The Presbyterian Theological
Faculty, Ireland," and em[)Owered to grant degrees in Divin-
ity. It may be here stated that when the Disestablishment
and Disendowment bill was carried in 1809, the Assembly's
College, Belfast, received from the Government the sum of
$197,500 in commutation of its interest in the Endowment
previously enjoyed.
It was the desire of John Knox that along with the
Church a school should be planted in every parish, for the
secular and religious instruction of the young. It was not,
however, till the great Reformer was more than a hundred
years in his gi*ave that his desire was fully realized. In the
reign of William and Mary, an Act of Parliament was
passed, giving to Scotland a school in every parish through-
out the whole kingdom, so far supported l>y public funds as
to render education accessible to even the poorest in the
community. The Irish Presbyterian Church has always
been animated by a like desire. Throughout all her history,
she has zealously sought to encourage and promote education
among her peo[)le. Looking back over a period of nearly
sixty years, and to a time when no public provision was made
for the education of the peoi)]e generally, I can testify from
my own personal knowledge that in a large section of County
Down, comprising a population almost exclusively Presby-
terian, the means of acquiring instruction in those subjects
EDUCATIONAL MOVKMKNTS. 275
that must ever form tli«i siihstaiic*! of u foiniiioii school
education hiy within vnHy reach of every portion of the
community. I may, I am confident, j^eneralizo this Ntato-
ment, an«l apply it not only to every otiier section in my
native county, btit also to every other county in Ulster.
The school houses and the school recpiisites wore, it is true,
of a very [)riniitive character. The tirst school that 1
att(!nd(ul was a thatched cabin by the wayside, with a hole
in the middle of the tloor for the p(!at fire in winter, and an
opening in the roof directly overhead for the (\sca[>e of the
smoke, which not unfre((uently was wayward in its niovo-
numts, and, to our discomfort, disinclined to malco its exit.
The moveable desk for the acconunodation of those [)upils
who were sutKciently advanced in their education to be
learning to write, and the three-legged '* Thistles " (Trestles)
on which it rested, when in use, would now form suitable
articles for a museum. But the teacher was a man who
even now, would rank high in his profession, and few were
the lads and lassies in the locality who did not graduate in
the humble institution over which he presided. Keligious
instruction entered largely into the regular exercises of the
school. The Scriptures were read daily, and, on Saturdays,
when school work always closed at noon, every scholar was
required to repeat with becoming reverence the Lord's
Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. The first hour every
Monday morning was devoted to the repetition of a previ-
ously specified number of questions in the Shorter Catechism.
Schools of this description were common throughout Ulster
about sixty years ago, when the Government established the
present system of National education, under the operation
of which a complete transformation has been (effected. The
Irish National Schools now present the most complete con-
trast in all respects to the schools they displaced. For
the most part, they are models of elegance ; and it is
27G PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
certain that they have been eminently successful in diffusing
the benefits of elementary education throughout the whole of
the kingdom. When first established, the system of educa-
tion that was adopted failed to command the approval of
the Presbyterian Church, mainly for the reason that it
made no provision for the reading of the Scriptures and
the communication of religious instruction. Strenuous
exertions were made to get this evil remedied ; and,
when all efforts failed, the Synod of Ulster organized an
education scheme of its own, which it successfully sup-
ported for several years. At length, the claims of the
Presbyterian Church were conceded by the Government,
and now there are nearly 800 schools which, whilst con-
nected with tae National Board and receiving Government
aid through that channel, are conducted according to rules
and regulations of her own framing, the reading of the
Scriptures and the use of the Shorter Catechism entering
into the regular exercises. The results of this new and
judicious arrangement have been eminently beneficial. The
Presbyterian people of Ireland have always been distin-
guished by intelligence, industry, and orderly habits. The
gaols and the poor-houses have never numbered many of their
way of thinking among their inmates. The ceaseless politi-
cal agitation, always tinged, more or less, with disloyalty
to the British Crown, that has done much to impede the
progress and to mar the prosperity of the country, has
never received encouragement at their hands. But at no
former period in their history was the percentage so infini-
tesimally small of those owning allegiance to their prin-
ciples who could neither read nor write, or their reputation for
all that is lovely and of good report higher than at present.
Were Ireland wholly Presbyterian, as we hope and trust it
will one day become, instead of being, as it has long been,
the weakness and disgrace of the Empire, it would be its
EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 277
strength and glory, the brightest jewel in its Crown, the
boast of liberty, the ornament of religion.
Whilst religious instruction is regularly imparted in the
common schools in connection with the Irish Presbyterian
Church, the Sabbath School has been very extensively em-
ployed as a means of contributing still further to the religi-
ous and moral training of the young. To Robert Raikes,
of England, is usually accorded the honor of having inaugu-
rated the Sabbath School system, but years before Raikes
began to engage in the good work, the system was in
successful operation in the parish of Kilmore, Co. Down,
where it still continues to be prosecuted with growing zeal
and earnestness. As early as 1780, Sabbath Schools were
held in this parish, often in the open air, and under
the shelter of trees or hedges. At present there are
about eleven hundred Sabbath Schools under the care of the
General Assembly, with a staif of considerably over nine
thousand teachers, and an aggregate of nearly 104,000
scholars. In 1862, " The Sabbath School Society for Ireland
in connection with the Presbykerian Church" was organized
for the purpose of supplying the Sabbath Schools of the
Church with books, periodicals, and other requisites, and its
yearly issue amounts to nearly 700,000 publications of dif-
ferent kinds. One special feature of this important part of
the Church's work is that Presbyteries are charged with
its supervision, and required once a year to examine the
different Sabbath Schools within their bounds, "so as to
test the children's knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and
the Catechism." As an encouragement to study, prizes are
awarded to the more advanced and proficient of the pupils.
Diligent efforts are also made to cultivate a missionary
spirit among the Sabbath School children, and it is pleasant
to be able to record that their contributions to the cause of
missions are yearly becoming an increasingly valuable addi-
tion to the missionary funds of the Church.
278 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS.
A new era in the history of the Church— The Marriage Question— The Dissenters'
Chapels' Bill— The Potatoe blight— The Manse P'und— The Revival of '59-
Disestabliahment and Disendowment— Death of Dr. Cooke— The use of instru-
mental music in public worship— Renewal of intercourse wiih the Mother
Church— Gladstone's Government of Ireland Bill— The Jubilee.
'HE union of the Synod of Ulster and the Secession
Synod inaugurated a new era in the history of the
Irish Presbyterian Church. It raised her to a
position of respectability and influence which she
had never previously occupied, greatly increased her means
and opportunities for usefulness, and stimulated in a very
high degree all her religious activities. Whilst addressing
herself to the work of missions with a zeal and an energy
that seemed to attest the bestowal of a divine baptism, she
eagerly sought from this time forward to consolidate her
position in the land, that thereby she might be placed in
more favourable circumstances for doing her appropriate
work as a church, and earnestly endeavored to promote the
social, moral, and religious elevation of the people whose
welfare in all respects it had always been her aim to advance.
Scarcely had she been ushered into the new and more
influential position she now occupied, when an incident
occurred which showed that the spirit of intolerant High
Churchism was not yet wholly extinguished. In a dis-
pute relative to the title to property, the Armagh Consis-
torial Court — an Episcopal court — declared a marriage, cele-
brated by a Presbyterian minister between a Presbyterian
and an Episcopalian, illegal. A similar decision, and for a
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 279
like reason, was shortly afterwards given in the case of a
man charged with bigamy. The question was eventually
carried to the House of Lords, and the decision of the
Armagh Court was confirmed, three of the six Law Lords
who sat upon it pronouncing such marriages legal, and three,
illegal. This decision produced immense excitement through-
out Ulster. For centuries marriages of the kind had been
celebrated; property to an immense extent was involved; the
honour and interests of hundreds of families were at stake.
Legislation alone could remedy the evil, but when the
necessary legislation was sought, tlrrough the secret opposi-
tion of the bishops in tlie House of Lords, it was impeded
in its course through parliament and delayed for years.
Eventually, and largely through the influence of Dr. Cooke,
a bill was carried through the legislature which rectified the
evil, and placed the ministers of the Presbyterian Church
on the same footing as to marriage with the ministers of
the Episcopal Church.
When the excitement that the marriage question produced
was at its height, another disturbing question arose in which
the title to property was also involved. At the time that the
Arians withdrew from the Synod of Ulster, they claimed
and held possession of churches and endowments originally
designed for Trinitarians. In several instances their claim
was contested in the law courts, and a decision given against
them. They had friends in the Ministry of the day, who,
to prevent further litigation, carried through parliament a
bill which secured them in the possession of all ecclesiastical
property which had been in their occupation for twenty-five
years. The Presbyterians of Ulster offered the bill strenu-
ous opposition in its course through the legislature. They
felt it to be a serious grievance that property, given by their
forefathers for Trinitarian uses, should be devoted to the
maintenance and propagation of error so gross as Arianism ;
280 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
but when the bill legalizing the wrong was placed on the
statute book they submitted without a murmur. Though
it placed the Arians in the undisturbed possession of much
valuable property, it did little to save them from the extinc-
tion that now more than ever seems to be rapidly approaching.
The few cougregations that they still number, were they all
gathered into one, would hardly equal in numerical strength
one of the largest congregations of the Assembly.
In 1846, a terrible calamity befell Ireland in the potatoe
blight, which destroyed the chief article of food of a large
portion of the population. The distress that arose in conse-
quence was truly appalling. Thousands and tens of thousands
perished miserably, and if government aid and private
beneficence in Ireland itself and many other lands besides,
had not come to the rescue, the thousands and tens of thou-
sands that were cut off by famine must have swelled into a
number immeasurably greater. Among those in Ireland who
distinguished themselves in their endeavours to relieve the
prevailing destitution, the late Dr. John Edgar, whose name
has already received honourable mention in this narrative,
is deserving of special notice. In September of this year, he
visited Connaught on an evangelistic tour, and as in travelling
from place to place, he was brought face to face with the
frightful ravages of the famine, all the sympathies of his
generous nature were aroused, and he resolved to make an
effort for the relief of the poor starving people. For this
purpose, he wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled " The
Cry from Connaught," in which, after describing the fearful
destitution he had witnessed, he made a strong appeal to the
people of Ulster on behalf of their perishing fellow-
countrymen. The production did credit alike to his highly
gifted intellect, and his warm generous heart. The late Dr.
D'Aubigne is said to have declared that he would rather have
been the author of it than of all the volumes he had ever
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 281
written. The ajoeal met with a generous and speedy-
response. In a short time, several thousand pounds were
placed at his disposal, and this large sum, under his judicious
distribution, was the means of carrying joy and comfort to
multitudes of soDOwful homes, and of saving thousands of
the starving people from a premature grave. The Protes-
tant clergy in the sorely distressed province, as well as in the
other sections of the country, were active in their endea-
vours to relieve tlie prevailing destitution ; but the Romish
priesthood generally, whilst diligent in their spiritual minis-
trations, did little to alleviate the privations of their perishing
parishioners. Archbishop Whately, a competent and reliable
witness, testifies that " their incomes were spent during the
famine, as they were spent before it, and aa they are now spent,
on themselves, or hoarded till they could be employed in large
subscriptions to chapels or convents. And this was not the
worst. In many cases, they refused to those who could not or
who would not pay for them, the sacraments of their church."
At no time since the great rebellion, two hundred years
before, did Irish Romanism suffer so great a loss as during
the time of this terrible calamity. In the course of a few
years, upwards of a million and a-half of its adherents were
removed from its ranks by death and emigration. The native
Irish have long been urgent in demanding home rule for
their country. They forget that they owe to its connection
with Britain the deliverance of their race from almost entire
extinction at this awful period. The British government
generously came to their relief, and expended about ten
millions sterling for their benefit. Had they had home
rule in all its fulness at the time, and been dependent
entirely upon their own resources, comparatively few of
them would have been livinf; to-dav to demand the severance
of the tie that unites them with those whom they have been
wickedly taught to regard as " the brutal and bloody
282 PRESBYTKRIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Saxons,'.' but wliorn tlioy then found to bo their best friends.
In 1853, tlie Assembly entered upon a scheme for provid-
ing the different congregations within its bounds with manses
and better churcli accommodation. At the time, little more
than one in twenty of its congregations possessed manses,
and many of the buildings in which they worshipi)ed,especially
in the country districts, were of a somewhat primitive des-
cription, })ossessing no architectural beauty, and little in
keeping with tlie growing wealth and strength of the church,
and the more testhetic tendency of the times. The original
intention was to raise $25,000, $5,000 of which was to be
expended in aiding in the erection of churches, and $20,000
in helping to build manses. At the suggestion of Mr. John
Sinclair, a wealthy Belfast merchant, who offered, in con-
junction with a brother of like high christian character with
himself, to subscribe $5,000, the oi'iginal idea was greatly
enlarged, and, within a short time, $145,000 was raised, Bel-
fast alone contributing one-third of the amount. Through
the aid thus obtained, no fewer than one hundred and ninctv-
six manses and forty-three new churches were erected, whilst
the debt on fifty-seven churches was either altogether
removed or greatly reduced. Large additions were made to
this fund in subsequent years, with the gratifying result that
of the 555 congregations now on the roll of the Assembly,
426 are provided with manses, whilst all the ecclesiastical
buildings it has aided in erecting exceed in value half a
million of dollars. The churches that have been built are
not of the barnlike appearance of the old buildings they
displaced, but of a high order of architectural beauty,
and more in harmony with the sacred uses to which they
have been dedicated.
In the early history of the Irish Presbyterian Church, as
has been recorded in its pi'oi)er })lace, a marvellous work of
grace took place, originating in the Six-mile- water region,
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 283
County Antrim, and extending eventually to every
Protestant section of the province. This remarkable
awakening was repeated, hut on a much larger scale, in 1859.
Beginning at a little prayer meeting in the parish of
Connor, in the same county, it spread over all the adjoining
district, and like a widening shower in spring, stretched
away into several counties in Ulster, pouring down
refreshing and reviving influences of the most hallowed
character along its entire course. The interest of the
people in divine things was marvellously aroused. The
churches were crowded, not only on the sabbath, but, in
many cases every night during the week. It is unnecessary
to describe the strange bodily affections with which, in
some instances, it was accompanied. Suffice it to say that
the simple preaching of the gospel awoke extraordinary
interest and was attended with extraordinary signs of power.
The scenes of apostolic times were renewed. Multitudes,
many of whom had been living either in habitual neglect of
the concerns of eternity or in open and undisguised
ungodliness, were awakened to a serious consideration of
their spiritual condition, and led to a rejoicing hope of a
blessed hereafter. The whole face of society underwent a
marked and marvellous change. The zeal and piety of the
church rose to an unwonted pitch. The general conduct of the
people was immensely improved. Drunkenness was greatly
diminished as well as crime in every form. When the 12th
of July, the great Protestant anniversary of Ulster, came
round, it was kept in many places, not in the usual way, but
in the observance of such soleranities as are peculiar to the
sabbath. "The number of prisoners for trial at the Quarter
Sessions for County Antrim in October, 1859, was exactly one
half that of the pvevious year. At the Ballymena Sessions in
April, 1860 — when the revival had been at work for twelve
months in its centml district — there was not a single case
284 PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCH IN IRELAND.
for indictment iijjon the record. At the Quai'ter Sessions
for Londonderry of the same date there was no criminal
business. liie Assistant Barrister, in his adch-ess to the
Grand Jury of Coleraine, adverted to the fact that, in a
place where offences had formerly abounded, they were now
so rare. How, said he, is such a gratifying state of things
to be accounted for? .... I believe I am fully
warranted now to say, that, to nothing else than the moral
and religious movement, which commenced early last
summer, can the change be atributed."
The doctrines of grace, including the doctrines of election
and predestination, are often assailed and represented as
unscriptural and hurtful to spiritual life and growth. But
it is worthy of special record that it was in the faithful
preaching of these doctrines that this great work of grace
took its rise and found its development. The salvation
that looks for its origin in the free and sovereign grace of
God, the provision of its several benefits in the atoning
blood of the Redeemer, and the communication of its
numerous blessings in the power of the Holy Ghost, is
the only salvation that is suited to man in his fallen
and perishing condition. In the full proclamation of
such a salvation is to be found the best hope of a world that
lieth in the wicked one. It is in proportion to the
faithfulness with which such a salvation is proclaimed that
the interests of true religion grow and prosper. It would
be worse than idle to contend that vital godliness is confined
to the Presbyterian Churcli, but it is not claiming too much
for that church to say that within its fold, under whatever
skies its banner floats, iire to be found a people who, in the
quiet unobtrusive simplicity and excellence of true christian
character exhibit, in a marked degree, the gospel's saving
power.
In 1869, an event occurred which, in the estimation of
TIIK LAST FIFTY YKARS. 285
many, forelxxled serious (lisiister to tlie ^(rowing prosperity of
the Irish Preshyti^riiiii Church. In this year, tho Irish
Ciiurcli Act was [)asso(l, disostahlishing Episcopacy, and
dopsiviiig tlifi Prt'sl)yt(Miau Ciiurcli of tlio llc^giuui Douuni
grant. Tliis grant was originally given by Charles IT., in
1G72; withdrawn <'ntircly hy .Iani(!s II.; ronowod and douhled
by William III.; augni(Mit(!d from time to time in successive
reigns till, when it was abolished, it amounted to fully
$200,000, affording to each minister on the roll of the
assembly an annual allowance of about $.'Jr)(). It is not to
be wondered at that the event was contemplated by many
with serious apprehensions. Hitherto, congiegations had
depended larg<;ly on this endowment for the su[>port of their
ministers, but from this time forward the burden was to
rest almost entirely on their own shoulders. They included
in their ranks few of the titled ones, and only a comparatively
small percentage of the rich and wealthy of the land. Their
members were engaged, for the most ])art, in agriculture,
and, though certainly able to make suitable provision by their
voluntary contributions for the comfortable support of their
ministers, yet little disposed, it was feared, from the want of
previous training, to rise to the full height of their added
obligations. The issue speedily dispelled all such disturbing
apprehensions. The liberality of the people rose with the
emergency, and placed the ministers of their beloved church
in circumstances of greater worldly comfort than ever. The
Disestablishment and Disendowmont bill was framed very
much after the model of the Clergy Reserves secularization
bill passed by the legislature of Canada in 1854. Every
minister was at liberty to continue to receive his quota of
the royal bounty, as formerly, during his lifetime, or to
commute his interest in the grant for a lump sum to be paid
at once, and it was left to the General Assembly to decide
whether the commutation should be effected in the private
286 PRESBYTERIAN CmiRCII IN IRELAND.
interest of eacli iniinHt<'r, or \i\ ihv. iiit<Mi\st of tiic (Jliiiich at
large. Witli a ina^naiiiinity worthy of all praiHO, with only
five exceptions, the ministers resolved to subordinate all
))ersonal considerations to the welfare of the church, and to
commute their "bounty" in her interest. They thus cast
into her treasury the ma^aiificont sum of about three millions
of dollars, which is to stand as an endowment fund for the
churcli for all time, and at |)resent yields an annual revenue
of about $125,000. The laity came forward, and, in a like
spirit of large-hearted liberality, resolved at a public meeting
held at Belfast, tliat it was their "duty to aim at such a
sum as will increase the income of all participants in the
commutation fund and their successors to at least $500
a year, independent of congregational payments." The
Sustentation fund was thus establislKjd. The value of the
commutation capital at the present time is about $3,000,000,
yielding a yearly revenue sufiicicjnt to give fully $225 a year
to every minister on the roll of the Assembly. The
Sustentation fund should amount to at least $150,000 yearly,
if the aim originally contemplated were reached, but it has
seldom gone beyond $110,000, the two combined yielding
$425, instead of $500, — the sum aimed at wlien the
Sustentation fund was set on foot. It will thus be seen
that though the combined allowance to each minister from
these two funds falls considerably below the sum originally
comtemplated, it is very considerably in excess of the
"bounty," at the time of the passing of the church Act.
At the same time the stii)ends throughout the church have
risen from $190,000 in 1870 to fully $246,000, for the
present year. In 1854, the total average income of each min-
ister was $550; in 1809, it was $750 nearly; this year it has
risen to $885. It may be added that the church posseses at
present a capital of nearly $6,000,000, and her total income
for the past year reached the grand total of $1,113,130.
THE LAST FIFTY YEAH8. 287
Wliilst th(! Jii^itiitioii that pi-(x*0(l«Ml the passin*^ of th«i
Di.scHtahlishiuciit and UiHeiulowtiient hill was at itH height,
Dr. Cooke, the great ornainoiit ami the oiuHtecl header of the
Irisli Preshyti^'ian Cliurcli for^half a century, ({uiiitly passed
away. lie died, at his residence, Orniean Road, Belfast,
on the 13th of Deceinhor, 1308, leaving behind him a name
for sanctified genius and splendid services to his church and
country that will never die. it was liis own d(\sire that his
funeral should be as private as possible ; but tiie peoi)le of
Ulster rcjsolved tliat "in deference to his life and labours,
and as a nuirk of respect to his charactcir and work, tluue
should be a public funeral." His family could not resist a
desire so general and so strongly expressed by the people
between whom and the deceased the strongest bonds of
affectionate regard had long existed. Accordingly, on
Friday, the 18th of December, the funeral took ])lace,
presenting such a magnificent tribute to the excellence and
worth of departed greatness as Ulster had never witnessed
before, and may never witness again. The corporation of
Belfast, the representatives of almost every corporate body
in the province, the presidents and professors and students of
the various colleges, and a very large number of the clergy of
all denominations in the city, and throughout Ireland, joined
in the procession, which was fully two miles in length.
Among the pall-bearers were the Primate of Ireland, the
Moderator of the General Assembly, the Bishop of the
diocese, the Mayor of Belfast, and the members of parliament
for the borough and county. From an early hour business
was suspended in town ; the leading places of business along
the line of route were draped in mourning. The streets
were lined with thousands, and as the solemn procession
moved slowly and stately on, many a cheek was bathed
in tears at the thought that the venerable form of the
mighty dead would be seen no more on their streets. On
288 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
the day after tlie funeral, a public meeting, consisting of all
classes and creeds, was held to consid(;r what was due to his
memory. After due deliberation it was resolved to erect a
statue of the deceased in bronze to be i)laced on an
appropriate pedestal in one of the leading thoroughfares of
Belfast. This has been done. A fine bronze statue of him
now stands in College Square. On the 11th of May, 1888,
occurred the centenary of his birth, and the day was
turned into an occasion for imposing celebrations in Belfast,
Dublin, and other leading towns in Ireland, as a tribute to
the exalted character of the departed, in memory of his
great and valuable services to his church, his country, and
divine truth, and in testimony of the esteem and veneration
in which his name is still held by his countrymen.
In paying this tribute to the memory of Dr. Cooke, it
would be a culpable omission to say nothxix^ of his loyalty to
the British Crown. Among the millicns of her subjects,
our beloved sovereign had none more sincerely and unalter-
ably devoted to her person and government. Home rule
for Ireland, which has been so eagerly discussed through-
out the empire and the colonies of the empire, for several
years past, found no favour in his eyes. When the cele-
brated Daniel O'Connell, some fifty years ago, announced his
purpose to visit Belfast, to agitate for the repeal of the Union
and an Irish parliament in College Green, he challenged the
doughty champion of the home rule movement of the day
to a public discussion of the question. O'Connell declined
to accept the challenge, and by his declinature exposed him-
self to general scorn, and the cause for which he had been agi-
tating for years to merited reprobation. And now that the
subject is again pushed to the front under another name, the
same spirit of loyal attachment to the British connection that
peculiarly distinguished Henry Cooke, pervades the whole
church he did so much to purify and elevate. When Mr. Glad-
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 289
stone's "Government of Ireland Bill," providing for the estab-
lishment of a separate parliament for Ireland, was introduced
into the House of Commons some four years ago, a special
meeting of the General Assembly was called, at which resolu-
tions were passed, deprecating " in the strongest manner, as
disastrous to the best interests of the country, a separate
parliament for Ireland, or any legislation tending to imperil
the legislative union betv/een Great Britain and Ireland, and
to interfere with the unity and supremacy of the Imperial
Parliament." The other Protestant churches of the country
vied with the Assembly in strenuous opposition to the bill,
and great was the rejoicing, when, in June of the same year,
it was defeated in the House of Commons. If it be said
that the question was purely political in its nature, and as
such should not liave found its way into church courts, it
may very propeily be replied that it was certainly more reli-
gious than political. It closely concerned, not merely
the welfare, but the very existence of Protestantism in
Ireland. Were Ireland a seperate and independent national-
ity, governed by a parliament of its own, the most sacred
interests of the Protestant minority of its population would
be placad at the mercy of an overwhelming majority whose
past history and acknowledged principles warrant the worst
anticipations.
Ireland was probably one of the first countries in Europe
in which instrumental music was publicly employed in
christian worship. A tradition gives a harp to Patrick, and
it would seem that the church that he founded saw no
wrong in a literal compliance with the commandment, " Sing
unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp
unto our God." The Irish Presbyterian Church claims a
close resemblance in her doctrines and practices to the early
Irish Church, but, as far as instrumental music in public
worship is concerned, declines to follow in its footsteps.
19
290 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
The question whether instrumental music is allowable in
public worship has of late years led to much keen dis-
cussion among her clergy and people. It first came before
the General Assembly in 1868, in connection with
the use of a harmonium in a small congregation in
Ulster, and was debated at subsequent meetings for eigh-
teen years afterwards, with an earnestness and often with
a bitterness that threatened to rend the church in twain.
Happily a truce, to last for five years, was proclaimed in
1886, since which time the contending parties have laid their
arms aside, and the unhealthy agitation that had for many
long years disturbed the peace of the church has sunk to rest.
The same year which witnessed the termination of this un-
happy controversy witnessed another occurrence hardly less
pleasing and important. When the disruption of the Church
of Scotland took place in 1843, the Irish Presbyterian Church
openly took sides with the outgoing party, and, in conse-
quence, the friendly intercourse with the mother church, that
had been renewed in 1836 after a long interruption, was
again broken off. Now, after an interval of forty-three
years, it was happily renewed afresh, and at no period in
their former history, were the mother and the daughter united
in stronger ties of mutual affection and regard than at this
moment. Intercourse of the most friendly character is also
maintainted with the Free Church, and the United Presby-
terian Church, in Scotland.
Fifty years have now passed away since the union of the
Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod in 1840. The
General Assembly met on the 10th of July last, in the
Rosemary Street Church, Belfast — on the same day of the
month and in the same place in which the union was consum-
mated fifty years ago — and celebrated its first Jubilee. The
occasion was one of profound interest, and the vast multitude
gathe. 3d from all parts of the country, that met to take part
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 291
in the proceedings, bore witness to the strong hold the
Presbyterian Church still retains on the loyal attachment of
a very large portion of the Protestant population of Ireland.
According to previous aiTangement, papers were read in
which subjects appropriate to the occasion were discussed.
Dr. H. B. Wilson, of Cookstown, read the first paper, entitled
"Before the Union." Dr. Killen, president of the Assem-
bly's College, Belfast, for well nigh fifty years professor of
church history in the same institution, and author of several
valuable historical works well known on this side the At-
lantic, followed with a paper giving "The Story of the
Union." As the venerable president, now in the eighty-
sixth year of his age, came forward, tho vast audience rose
to their feet, and, by plaudits repeated again and again, bore
witness to the gi'eat afiection and esteem in which the dis-
tinguished veteran is held by the church at large. Dr.
Magill next gave an address on the "Baptism of the Holy
Spirit." The Rev. Mr. Lyle, of Muckamore, Assembly's
CoDvener of Statistics, followed with a short paper on " Fifty
Years of Finance." Mr. Lyle wus succeeded by Dr. Lynd,
of May Street, Belfast, who read a paper on " The Place and
Power of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland." The Rev.
T. S. Woods, Ballygowan, was then called upon to describe
a large Jubilee picture, which stood on an easel on the plat-
form, in front of the audience, containing the likenesses of the
surviving pre-unionist ministers with their autographs in
facrsimile. The preparation of this picture was first sug-
gested to the Jubilee Arrangement cc mittee by Mr. Woods,
and to its production he devoted an enormous amount of
time and attention. Copies of it will doubtless come to this
country, renewing to many on this side the Atlantic faces
and forms associated with the most deeply cherished mem-
ories of their earlier years. The Rev. Mr. Park, Moderator
of the General Assembly, as a convener of the foreign mis-
292 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
sion, then read a paper on "Fifty Years of Foreign Mission
Work," and was followed by Dr. John Hall, of New York,
in a speech of great power, which thrilled and electrified the
crowded assembly. The proceedings of the day were closed
by a reception given by a number of Presbyterian merchants
of Belfast to the Assembly and the visiting delegates, at
which addresses were delivered by representatives of Presby-
terianism all the world over.
PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE OTHER PROVINCES. 293
CHAPTER XVII.
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OTHER PROVINCES.
Presbyterians in Ireland before the Ulscer plantation— Provosts and Fellows of
Trinity College-John Owen and Stephen Charnock — Five conjjregations in
Dublin— Pastors of distinction— Congregations at Clonmel, Cork and other
places — Several congregations that formerly existed now extinct — Causes of
decay, Arianism and Rebellion of '98— Revival -Present number— Conclusion.
WE have hitherto confined ourselves almost entirely
to the history of the Presbyterian Church in
Ulster. The history, however, would be incom-
plete, if no notice were taken of the existence of
Presbyterianism in the other provinces.
Before the Ulster plantation was commenced, tl^ei-e were
Presbyterian families scattered over the country, and when
Trinity College, Dublin, was founded, two of its first regular
Provosts, and also two of its first Fellows, were Presbyterians.
During the time of the commonwealth, Independents and
Baptists were in greatest favour with the existing govern-
ment, and it is worthy of record, that during this period,
John Owen and Stephen Charnock — two eminent Puritan
divines — oflSlciated in Dublin. During the same period, many
oflScers and soldiers in Cromwell's army, as well as others
ftx)m England, settled in the south, originating non-conform-
ing congregations in many places. Towards the close of the
seventeenth century, there were no less than five Presby-
terian Churches in Dublin, of which three appear to have
been of English and two of Scotch origin. " Wood Street,'*
<me of the congregations in which John Owen ministered
for som« years, must have included several wealthy members
m its commumon, for when the " General Fund " was
294 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
established in 1710, of the ^7,670 originally contributed, it
gave fully four-tiftlis. When the Secession body sprang into
existence, two congregations in connection with it, one of
Burghers, and another of Anti-burghers, were established
in the city. Some of these Dublin churches enjoyed the
ministrations of pastors who won high distinction in the field
of christian authorship, among whom may be specially men-
tioned Joseph Boyse, author of the " Vindiciae Calvinisticse,"
and John Leland, whose works on the christian evidences
still command attention. They also included in their ranks
not a few people of note, such as Lord Ferrard and his
family, the Granard family. Lady Donegal, and the Countess
of Enniskillen. Farther south, there were several Presby-
terian Churches, of which probably the Clonmel congregation,
which dates from 1673, was the oldest. The congregation
at Cork must have been nearly as old, for prior to the year
1710, it had had thirteen successive ministers. Congrega-
tions were also formed ;it Limerick, Waterford, Summerhill,
Fethard, and Killala, during the seventeenth century.
Besides these and other congi-egations which are still extant,
some eight or nine others are known to have existed, which
have altogether disappeared, and the valuable properties they
owned have been lost to the church. Various causes united
in producing this unhappy result. One was the spread of
Arianism, and one yet more potent was the rebellion of '98,
which, in the south, was accompanied with great loss of life
and property to Protestants. "When non-conforming congre-
gations were originally established in the south, they consisted,
for the most part, of Puritan military .adventurers from
England, who never were thoroughly grounded in Presby-
terian principles ; and when Arianism appeared among them,
they were only too ready to accept its specious but pernicious
doctrines. They were mainly made up of families which still
inherited the no-popery spirit of the times of Cromwell, and
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THK OTHER PROVINCES. 295
when the rebellion broke out in '1)8, and ilomanism became
for the moment the rulinu: power in the south, they were
threatened with speedy extinction ; and if the power now in
the ascendant hud not been speeJily overthrown, they would
probably have been swept entirely out of existence. They
were early united in whut wjus known as the Southern
Association, to which Queen Anne, in 1708, made a grant
of j£800 per annum, which was subsequently increased from
time to time. In 1801), a Synod of Munster was formed, by
the union of two southern Presbyteries. Arianism infected
this body to a large extent, but as the century advanced,
the revival of orthodoxy that was spreading fast in the north
found its way southwards, and in 1854, most of the congrega-
tions connected with it were incorporated with the General
Assembly. Since, the cause of Presbyterianism has made
very considerable progress in the south and west of Ireland.
When the union between the Synod of Ulster and the
Secession Synod was consummated in 1840, there were only
twenty-six congregations south of Dublin ; now there are
sixty-three.
CONCLUSION.
If a tree may be known by its fruit, the Presbyterian
Church in Ireland may justly be regarded as a tree of
the Lord's planting. In Ulster, where it first took
root, and where it has flourished most vigorously, and
in all those sections of the other provinces where it has
shot forth its branches, it has borne fruit whose value could
hardly be over estimated. To the intelligence, energy,
industry, and orderly habits, of its people, Ireland is indebted
for not a little in her history that throws brightness across
its prevailing shadows, and to its existence and labours in
the country, very much of the earnest living Protestantism
296 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.
that irradiates the gloom of her widespread darkness is to be
ascribed. When it was first planted in Ulster, it found the
province little bettei* than a savage wilderness. Patches of
the soil had been cultivated here and there, after a fashion,
but the land lay for the most part until led, varied at inter-
vals by forests, in 'vhich wild beasts roamed in unchallenged
freedom, and by swamps covered with rank vegetation, which
in summer generated a malaria that was dangerous to human
life. Manufactures, and trade, and commerce were unknown.
But only a few years had passed away, when a wondrous
transformation had been effected, and as the years con-
tinued to roll on, the change became more marked and per
ceptible, until the country every where presented signs of an
advancing civilization. Forest, and swamp, and wild beast, had
alike disappeared. The untilled soil had been converted into
well cultivated farms. Comfortable homesteads had dotted the
whole surface of the country. Large and thriving towns had
sprung into existence, and trade and commerce had commenced
that career of progressive advancement that has since con-
tributed largely to the prosperity of the province. By-and-
bye, manufactures, imported partly by French Huguenots, and
still more by Scotch Colonists, and which are now giving remu-
nerative employment to tens of thousands of its population,
came to quicken the march of improvement. Nor was this all.
When the Presbyterian Church was first planted in Ulster,
the physical state of the province afforded no inapt represen
tation of the moral and spiritual condition of its inhabitants.
For ages, its population had been noted for indolent and
disorderly habits, and, though at the time they were professedly
christian, the utmost stretch of the most charitable judgmt^.t
could have hardly accorded them much beyond the name. In
appearance and dress, and manners and education, they were
but little in advance of the condition in which their fore-
father were, when in ages long gone by, Patrick had given
CONCLUSION. 297
them the gospel. But in a comparatively short tinit»,
all this was marvellously changed. Now, in energy uiul
industry, in orderly habits, in wealth, in education, in
christian knowledge and deportment, the larger portion of
the population of Ulster compares favourably with the poj)-
iilation of any other part of the Empire. As for the Presby-
terians of the province, who constitute by far tlie major
part of its Protestant population, certainly very few of the in
are unable to read and write, and as for gaols and work-houses,
they are more conspicuous by their absence from such places
than by their presence. According to the census of
1881, Romanism was credited with iS7.8 i)ercent, Episcoj)acy
with 8, and Presbyterianism with only 3.6 \)ev cent of
the pauperism of the country. On the Slst of March,
1885, there were confined in Irish gaols 36,288 prisoners, of
whom, 29,766 were Romanists, 3,690 were Episcopalians,
and only 1,762 were Presbyterians. A garrison of nearly
30,000 troops is usually kept in Ireland. Of these, hardly
a tenth is quartoied in Ulster, and even this tenth would
certainly sink to a much lower proportion, if the population
of the province were wholly, as it is only a little more than
one half Protestant. The Royal Irish Constabulary, which
is charged with the preservation of the peace and the
protection of life and property in Ireland, numbers fully
12,000 men. Of these policemen, Cork requires 24, for
every 10,000 inhabitants, Kilkenny, 36, Westmeath, 45)
Kerry, 32, Galway, 46; Down, Antrim, Derry, and Armagh,
only 11, each, and Tyrone, 12. In christian intelligence
and character, Ulster presents a still more marked contrast
to the other provinces.
It cannot be said that the present superiority of Ulster is
due either to natural advantages or to state patronage.
Compared with the north, the south of Ireland possesses
more and gi^eater natural advantages. Its soil is more
298 PREHBYTERIAK CHURCH IN IRELAND.
fertile ; its climate is more propitious ; its position from a
iiiercantile point of view is more favourable; its harboura
are safer and more commodious. And as for state patronage,
it has been made abtindantly manifest in the course of the
preceding narrative that the Presbyterians, who have always
constituted the large majority of the Protestant population
of Ulster, instead of having been pet favourites of the
government, have, up till a comparatively recent date, been
treated with persistent cruelty. On this score, they have
had about as much reason to complain as the Romanists.
Again and again, the ministers of the Presbyterian Church
were obliged to flee from the country to escape fine and
imprisonment. For long their worship was illegal, and it
was only at dead of night or in some secluded spot, that
they could engage in its celebration. For long, they dare
not openly meet in Presbyteries, or venture publicly on the
ordination of ministers. For long, the members of their
flocks were deprived of the right to serve their sovereign
and country, unless at the sacrifice of their religious
convictions; and for a still longer period, they were harassed
by the bishop^' courts, and, if they had been married by their
own ministei-s, their children were branded as bastards.
Nay, it is not too much to say that the Presbyterians have
had much more just cause of complaint than the Romanists,
for, whilst the latter were always disloyal, and often running
into rebellion, the former, with the exception of one slight
aberration from their usual course by a few of their number,
were always loyal supporters of the government, rendering
on more than one occasion services of the greatest possible
value not only to Ireland but also to the empire at large.
The Romanist may complain of the penal laws, but it should
be remembered that for their existence he had but himself
to blame. They were the strong but necessary restraint
laid upon the hand of the assassin ever ready to strike a
CONCLUSION. 299
<lii«^gt'r blow at tlie national life. For thoir oxi.stonco, in the
cjiHe of the ProBbyterian, no Huch valid plea can be urged.
In answer to the sneering question, " What is Prosbytoriansin?
once put in the English House of Commons, Lord Castlereagh
replied, "/^ is Protestantism double distillPAl.*' The question
was rightly answered from a religious point of view ; but
from a political, it might bo answered by saying that it is
loyalty double-distilled. No section of the population of
Ireland Iiave been more ardent and active in supporting
the revolution settlement of 1088, and in maintaining the
interests of the British government in the island. And yet
no section of the people of Ireland have been more unkindly
treated. Still, in spite of intolerant parliaments, and
adverse influences from other quarters, the Presbyterian
people of Ulster have kept toiling away in the province,
improving its agriculture, building up its trade and com-
merce, establishing and multiplying its manufactures as
well as other industries, until to-day, in all the elements of
substantial prosperity, it is quite on a level with any other
part of the empire, and much beyond any other province in
Ireland. All the while they have been loyal to the faith their
forefathers carried with them when they first settled in the
country, and to-day they have the proud satisfaction of know-
ing that at no former period in her checkered history was their
beloved church in a more healthy and flourishing condition
than at present. In the Presbyterian College, Belfast, and
the Magee College, Derry, she possesses ample facilities for
the training of candidates for her ministry. In the growing
and increasing liberality of her members she is furnished
with greatly enlarged means for maintaining the ordinances
of religion within her own communion, and for supporting
missions at home and abroad; in the learning, and zeal, and
piety of her clergy, she enjoys an ample guarantee for her
present stability, and her future progress; and in the
300 I'UEBIiYTKKIAN CIIUHCH IN IRELAND.
prominent and influential poHition she now occupies in the
land, hhe has reached nn elevation in which, whiUt certain
to command reH|>ectful consideration in high (piaiters, she
need fear no opposition, come from what source it may.
Fifty -six congret^ations of Cov(^nant«3i*H and Secedei-s, all
loyal and true Prtisbyterians, still exist outside her pale, but
there is good reason to believe that in a very short time she
will be able to i*eckon all these among her most ardent
supporters. Then, she will have become in a higher and
fuller sense than ever the Presbyterian Church in Irelantl,
enrolling in her ranks the whole of the Presbyterian people
of the country, and in a better i)08ition for carrying out all
the great purposes for which she has been planted in the
island, and especially for evanglizing the whole land and
for gathering its entii'e {)opulation within her communion.
When such a desirable consummation shall have been
brought about, she will have reached a higher position still,
and have become — who will dare say that such a con-
summation is not approaching] the Church of Ireland,
extinguishing for ever in the grand achievement her labour
have at length happily accomplished the disastrous antagonism
that has long kept Celt and Saxon apart, and uniting both
alike in loyal and loving allegiance to the Prince of Peace,
in earnest endeavoui-s for the welfare of their common
country, and in zealous efforts for the evangelization of the
world.
Finis.