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A HISTORY
OF THE
IRISH PRESBYTERIANS,
BY
W. T. LATIMER, B.A.
Author of " A History of the Life and Times of the Rev. H. Cooke,
D.D., LL.D. ; "A Lecture on the Doctrines of the
Plymouth Brethren," &c., (S:c.
T.ELFAST : JAMES CLEELAND, 26 ARTHUR STREET.
EDINBURGH : R. W. HUNTER, GEORGE IV. BRIDGE.
^T
• • • I
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f
L TO THE READER,
V
At the beginning of my professional life, I determined to write a history of the Irish Presbyterians. I was strengthened in my determination by the late Professor "Witherow, who strongly advised me to undertake the work ; but several circumstances prevented my intention from being then accomplished. In one respect, this was fortunate, as I have lately obtained access to various sources of information which were not at that time available, and have, by this means, been able to correct several errors of earlier his- torians. It occurs to me, however, that if such accurate and painstaking writers as Dr. Reid and the others to whom I refer, have made mistakes, it can hardly be expected that I shall be free from errors myself, notwithstanding the care I have taken to verify my statements by consulting original authorities.
On page 210, will be found some additional facts with regard to the Irish Reformed Presbyterians, which came to my notice after the previous sheets had passed through the press. I have also been led to conclude that the Eagle's Wing built for Blair, Livingston, Hamilton, and their com- panions, was constructed near Belfast, and not at Groomsport as is generally stated.
Although Dr. Eeid is certainly astray in stating that Mr. Fleming was sent to Drogheda in August, 1708, by a Synod which did not meet till September, I believe he preached there on the last Sabbath of August, by orders of the Presbytery.
To this work I have devoted nearly five of the best years of my life. But I feel that my labour will not be lost if I thereby in any way deepen the love of Irish Presbyterians for those principles that enabled our forefathers to bear bitter persecution in the past, and which enable us now to look forward with courage to the future.
I have to express my obligations to the Eev. Professors. Gordon, Chancellor, Leitch, Henry, Heron, and Dickey ; to the Revs. Dr. Morell, Dr. Kinnear, R. Jeffrey, J. R. Dill, John Elliott, D. Manderson, A. G. Leckey, J. Gibson, J. Houston, and J. K. Pike ; to Messrs. O. C. Nelson, R. F. DilU. John Gordon, Robert M. Young, and many others.
Eglish, Dungannon, 14th March, 1893.
ERE AT A.
Page 22, last line of note, read : " As that nobleman had previously- succeeded to the title of Earl of Sussex."
Page 24, line 29, insert "of " before " Desmond."
,, ,, ,, 34, read " Edmund Si^enser."
,, 99 ,, 21, read " of " instead of " for.''
,, 125 ,, 30, erase " the " before " King."
A HISTORY
OF
The Irish Presbyterians
CHAPTER I. PATRICK, BRIGID, AND COLUMBKILLE.
I^I^IHE inliabitants of Ireland are descended from numerous bands Wl^ of invaders and colonists, who, at different times, established (jJK themselves in the country. When Christianity was first introduced among them, they all spake a Keltic tongue, and may be regarded as a Keltic race. Although Patrick was the chief instrniment of their conversion, there were Christians in the country before he began his mission. We read, in the AriJiah of the Four Masters, that King Cormac, who lived in the third century, was regarded with hostility by the Druids because he had forsaken them, and turned to " the adoration of God." About 481, a.d., Pope Celestine sent Palladius to " The Irish believing in Christ," expecting that they might be induced to receive him as their first bishop. But at this time, Patrick was preaching the Gospel in Ireland, and, as he did not acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, he would resent the interference of a foreign prelate with the work he was then carrying on successfully.
According to some authorities, Patrick was a native of Wales ; others believe that he was born in Scotland ; but it seems more l^robable that his birthplace was in the North of France. His father and his grandfather were both ministers of the Gospel ; for in those days celibacy had not been generally im]3osed on the clergy. When *' nearly sixteen years of age," Patrick was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave. We read that Nial of the Nine Hostages, at the head of a large number of Scots — as the Irish were then called — ravaged the English coasts, passed over to France, and there carried on a work of x)lunder and devastation. He made several expeditions of this kind, and it is stated that Patrick was captured, during one of these raids, and brought to Ireland. For six years, the young captive remained in servitude, feeding cattle or swine in the valley of the Braid, near Slemish Mountain, from which, far up and dowTi, can be seen the entire County of Antrim, the greater part of Ulster,
6 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
and even the blue bills of Scotland. In the solitude of this slavery, be be^an to reflect on bis past life, and the foundation for bis bope of future salvation. He was led to see tbe wickedness of bis beart, and be believed in tbe name of Cbrist, "NVlio bad " respect to bis bumiliation and pitied bis youtb and ignorance." He tells us, in bis Confession, that be prayed frequently during tbe day — perbaps as often as a Imndred times — " and in tbe nigbt nearly tbe same ;" tbat be remained for prayer in tbe woods and in tbe mountain, and that, before daylight, he would rise for prayer, through frost, and snow, and rain. As a result, he felt bis " spirit to be stirred " and "his faith become stronger."
After six years of servitude in Ireland. Patrick escaped, and returned to bis native land. He bad two hundred miles to walk before he reached the port from which the ship sailed ; and he was three days on his voyage, proving, we believe, tbat bis homeward journey was to France rather than to Scotland. However, his troubles were not ended. He was a second time enslaved, but succeeded, once more, in making his escape. Afterwards, being at liome with his parents, they besought him tbat, considering tbe many hardships be bad endured, " he would never leave them again." But he was impelled to return to Ireland by a wonderful dream which be thus relates : " And there I saw, indeed, in the bosom of the nigbt, a man coming as it were from Ireland, Victoricus by name, with innumerable letters, and he gave one of theni to me. And I read tbe beginning of tbe letter containing " Tbe Voice of tbe Irish." And while I was reading aloud tbe beginning of tbe letter, I myself thought indeed in my mind that I heard the voice of those who were near the wood of Foclut, which is close by the Western Sea. And they cried out thus as if with one voice, ' We entreat thee, holy youth, tbat thou come, and henceforth walk among us.' "
Patrick regarded this dream as a call from God to evangelize tbe Irish ; and, being ordained a presbyter or bishop, set out to preach Christ to the heathen inhabitants of the land where be had been formerly a slave. He makes no mention of having received any commission from tbe Pope to undertake this work. A Frenchman named Prosper, who was well acquainted with all tbat passed in Rome at this period, is silent about tbe designation of Patrick, although be tells us, in bis Chronicon, of the mission of Palladius. Nor does any writer, within three hundred years after tbe death of tbe great Apostle of the Irish, venture to assert tbat be was subject to Rome. And Leo, who occupied tbe papal chair about the middle of this century, does not, in any of bis numerous letters, make mention of tbe Irish Christians as subject to bis supremacy. Besides, I am convinced tbat if Patrick had owned tbe authority of Rome, be would not have taught tbe Irish Church to differ from tbe Roman in its form of w^orsbip, in its mode of reckoning Easter, and in permitting tbe presbyter abbots to exercise power over their neighbouring bishops.
Although there were probably some believers in Ireland when Patrick began his mission, it was chiefly by bis instrumentality tbat
Pafricl-, Brigid, and ColnmhlxLUe. 7
the country became Christian. He travelled about from place to place, instructing the people in their native language. By such means, and not by miracles, he led tlie nation to a knowledge of Christ. Preaching before the King of Meath, at Tara, it is said he illustrated tlie mysterious doctrine of the Trinity by means of a three-leafed shamrock. Everywhere he adapted his reasonings and his style to the capacity of those he instructed, and his efforts were crowned with success.
Althougli unmarried himself, he did not impose any yoke of celibacy on the Irish Church. He ordained, as bishop, Fiach Finn, "a man with but one wife." For many centuries afterwards, the law and practice of the Church, in this respect, remained the same. An ancient canon relates to the apparel of a minister and his wife, when in public. And even so late as the end of the eleventh century! the renowned Malacliy O'Morgair was born the son of an Irish clergyman.
It is said, that Patrick ordained 365 bishops in Ireland. But these bishops were teachers of the people, and not rulers of the clergy. There were, then, less than 300,000 inhabitants in the country, and, therefore, at least one bishop for every two hundred f amihes ; which proves that these officials were parish ministers, and the old Irish Church, to a great extent, Presbyterian in its form of churcJi government.
In Patrick's writings there is no allusion to Mary-worsliip, or to Purgatory, or to Transubstautiation. They contain no prayers to saints ; and they appeal to the Scriptures as the only standard of faith and of morals. The necessity of possessing a renewed heart and enlightened understanding is pointed out witli gi-eat distinctness, and Christ is sliown to be the only Mediator between God and man. The hymn which Patrick composed, when about to appear before Kmg Laoghaire, is an earnest prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ, containing no trace of belief in the Virgin, as an intercessor. He entreats tliat Christ may be before him, behind him. within him, at his right hand, and at his left ; that Clirist would be in the heart of every man who thought of ]]im, and in the mouth of every man who spoke to him. Thus Patrick taught the people, whom he was the instrument of converting, to go directly to the Saviour. It was hundreds of years after liis death, before it was asserted that he received a commission from Rome. And the very parties who first made this statement, stated also that he performed miracles so absurd as to be utterly unworthy of belief.
Before Patrick's death, Christianity had made great progress throughout the whole country. Many of tlie British clergy, driven from England by the heathen Saxons, sought refuge in Ireland ; and gave valuable assistance in teaching the people, whose language was similar to their own. In this tongue, all religious services were held ; and the celebration of masses in Latin was not introduced until long afterwards.
Although the old Irish Church was pure in doctrine and Presbyterian in government, it permitted societies of monks and
8 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
nuns. This was only a continuance of the custom which had prevailed among the heathen Druids. But the monks of Patrick were engaged chiefly in the work of education. They generally used the neighbouring churches for their class rooms, and their scholars erected wooden huts around, in which they resided. So successful were these Irish seminaries, that, before long, they became celebrated throughout Europe. Scholars flocked to them from distant countries. Ireland was called the " Isle of Saints," and her sons came to occupy distinguished positions in many foreign seats of learning.
The Book of Armagh — which is a manuscript upwards of a thousand years old — contains a copy of Patrick's Confession. This work relates many circumstances of his life. It is written in barbarous Latin, and some passages are very ambiguous, proving that its author Avas not in the habit of using this language in the services of the Church. His hymn is written in Irish, and is supposed to be the olde&t monument of that language in existence. It is said that Patrick died on the 17th of March, 465, a.d., near the town of Downpatrick. He was not a man of learning, but an earnest Christian and a successful missionary, whose memory is venerated by Irishmen of all creeds and classes.
The next great name which appears in connection with the Irish Church is that of Brigid. She established a nunnery at Kildare, and in 525, a.d., died at the age of seventy, leaving behind her a great reputation for sanctity.
Comghall, born in 517, at Magheramorne, Co. Antrim, founded, in 558, the monastery of Bangor, Co. Do\\ti, which, afterwards, became renowned as a seat of learning. It is said that, at one time, it contained 3,000 monks ; but, probably, this number included the students.
After Patrick, the name of Columba, or Columbkille, stands highest in the old Irish Church. Born of a royal race, in 521, a.d,, at Gartan, Co. Donegal, he was of lofty stature and noble presence, had a splendid voice, and could express himself with clearness and powder. He was fond of study, and to gratify his taste for books, spent much of his time in copying manuscripts. Having borrowed a psalter from Finnian, Bishop of Moville, he took a copy of it, which lie retained as his own property, when the original was returned. But Finnian claimed tlie copy also, and on Columbkille refusing to restore it, brought the matter before Diarmid, King of Ireland, w^ho decided tliat as to every cow belongeth her calf, so to every book belongeth its copy. Columbkille was compelled to give up the manuscript he spent so much labour in writing. Greatly enraged at the King's decision, and also because his Majesty put to death a chieftain who had fled to the monks for protection, the Saint persuaded his kinsmen, the O'Neills, to w^age war against Diarmid. In 561, the rival forces met near Sligo, and Columbkille's kinsmen were victorious. This victory was ascribed to the prayers of the Saint, who now received back his manuscript, which, in after years, w^as often carried to the battlefield as a pledge of victory.
Patrick, Brigid, and Columh'killc. 9
But Coliimbkille, being considered the cause of this bloodshed, was excommunicated hy a Synod held iu Meath. He then, with twelve of his companions, crossed over to Scotland in a wicker boat covered with hides. Landing in the lonely island of lona, he established there an Institute which soon became celebrated throughout Europe. "Whatever may have been the mistakes which Columbkille made in the previous part of his life, the remainder was devoted to God alone.
He founded in Scotland many monastic establishments, which were the schools of that time, and iu which students were trained for the ministry of the Word. Each of these seminaries contained thirteen brethren, all presbyters, of whom one was chosen Abbot, in whose name their decisions were executed. These brethren were called Culdees ; but their system probably existed before the time of Columbkille. It contains no trace of Episcopacy. The brethren were all presbyters ; but besides, were sometimes called elders and sometimes bishops. One of them states that the principles he taught were " received from his elders, who had sent him thither as bishop." And even the Venerable Bede, who belonged to the English Church, admits that Columbkille was a Presbyter, and deplores the fact that he had not adopted Episcopacy and submitted to Rome. Bede flourished in the eighth century, and he states that even in his own time the Abbot of lona was a Presbyter. But although Columbkille and his brethren were only presbyter-bishops, they ordained many missionaries, through whose exertions the North of Scotland received the light of the Gospel.
Opposed by the Picts, and in dauger of death from the Druids, Columbkille did not feel dismayed. By his imposing mien and popular eloquence, he gained the ear of the people, and won their affection. All opposition was overcome. Christianity was embraced by these rude tribes, who formed a kingdom in the North different from the Scots of the South ; and well may Columbkille be called '* The Apostle of the Northern Picts." His princely rank and his great success in Scotland caused the Irish to forget the sentence which had been passed on him ; and, on returning to his native land, in 575, he was received with enthusiasm. He attended a convention of the princes and clergy, called by King Hugh, to settle questions with regard to expelling the Bards, and taxing the Irish colony in Argyle. By the marvellous eloquence of Columbkille, both these matters were decided in opposition to the wishes of the King. The Scottish colony, to which lona belonged, was released from sub- jection to the princes of Ulster, and the Bards received such protection as prevented their exterminaticm. It is said, tliat. durinjj all the time he was iu his native country, Columbkille remained blindfolded, in consequence of a vow he male when driven from Ireland — that he would never look on its soil again.
Some years afterwards he again visited his native land, and was again received with the respect due to his talents and his character. But Columbkille was now growing old, and increas- ing years brought with them a strong presentiment of death. On
10 A History of the Irish Prcshyfcrians.
a Saturday eveniiif,', he asceuded a liill in tlie Island of lona, and there, witli the wide waste of waters all around, gave a parting blessing to his brethren. Then, resolving to die in tlie Lord's work, he recommenced copying the Scriptures. Having written the 10th verse of the 84th Psalm — " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" — he stopped writing, and said that Baithune might finish what remained. That evening he attended service in the church. Afterwards he retired to his cell, and slept as usual on a bare flag, with his head on a pillow^ of stone. Next morning, he again proceeded to the church, wdiere he arrived first ; but, when the others entered, they found him lying dead. Thus on Sunday, the 9th of June, 597, at the age of seventy-six, died Columbkille the Prince, the Poet, the Orator, and the Saint. It is said that his bones were brought to Ireland and buried in the same grave with Patrick and Brigid, where they were afterwards discovered, through a miracle, by Malachy the Third, Bishop of Down. To this these well- known lines refer :
" Hi tres in Dune tumulo tumulantur in uno, Brigida, Patricius, atque Columba pins."
Or, as it has been translated :
" In Down three saints one tomb do fill — Patrick, Brigid, and Columbkille."
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE DEATH OF COLUMBKILLE TO THE ENGLISH CONQUEST.
f^l^llHE religious establishments founded by Columbkille in V^rh' Scotland seem to have been based on the same principles as (JjEi^ those previously existing in Ireland. They were seats of learning over which the Abbot of lona, and not the Pope of Rome, exercised supremacy. The monks were presbyters, and the presbyter abbots had jurisdiction over the pastor-bishops. It is said that a hundred monasteries in Ireland acknowledged the supremacy of Ions . Of the others, many regarded as their head the Abbot of Armagh. The abbots of these monasteries were called the co-arbs of their founders. The Abbot of lona was the Co-arb of Columbkille ; the Abbot of Armagh, the Co-arb of Patrick ; and the Abbot of Bangor, the Co-arb of Comgliall.
Vast n ambers received instruction in these seminaries, from which came forth able preachers of the Gospel, many of whom laboured in France, or Germany, or other places on the Continent. Irish scholars soon came to occupy distinguished positions in foreign
From the Death of Columhhille to the En(/lls]t CoJiqiietst. 11
lands. Coliimbauiis established a mouastery in France ; Gallus attained great popularity in Switzerland, and gave his name to one of its Cantons. But of all the Irishmen who went abroad, none was more distinguished than Johannes Scotus, a layman, wlio lived in the ninth century. He was patronized by Charles the Bald, King of France. One day, sitting at the table opposite His Majesty — who dearly loved a bottle of wine — the King asked liim what was the difference between a Scot and a Sot. " Nothing, Your Majesty, but the table," replied the witty Irishman.
Before the Irish became Christians, they were little better than savages. Women, as Avell as men, were liable to military service, and often marclied to battle. The rude chieftans seldom ceased to make war on one another ; and the history of these times is a history of robbery and murder.
The influence of Christianity tended to improve this state of society. Better that men should be guided by moral power than by j)hysical force — better to be led by a saint like Columbkille, than by a warrior like Diarmid. Accordingly, Christianitj' had while it remained pure, a vast civilizing effect on Ireland, which it changed from an island of robbers and murderers into " The Isle of Saints;" although some of these "saints" were beset by many infirmities of the flesh. It was not until the end of the seventh century that women were freed from military service, and, for nearly two centuries longer, monks fouglit in the ranks as soldiers, on the day of battle.
For several hundred years after Patrick's death, the Irish Church preserved its purity of doctrine, its Presbyterian form of government, and its freedom from the power of Rome. So strong was the spirit of opposition to Papal claims that an Irish bishop, named Dagan, refused to eat in the same house witli Italian mis- sionaries, whom he met in England.
The English, in general, had received their Christianity from Rome. In tlie year .'397, Augustine, with forty monks, came from Pope Gregory to attempt the conversion of the country. The success of his mission caused the authority of the Papal See to be acknowledged in England, unless in some northern districts, where the people, instructed by the Culdees, submitted to the supremacy of the Presbyter Abbot of lona, the Co-arb of Columbkille.
The Church m Wales still retained its freedom. Thither the Britons had fled before their Saxon invaders ; and tliey were as strongly opposed to the religious authority of the Pope, as to the political authority of their conquerors. Protected by surrounding mountains, the natural habitation of liberty, they remained freemen in body and in soul.
As years rolled on, the Irish Church began to be distracted with disputes regarding the proper form of clerical tonsure and regarding the correct time of observing Easter. While the Romish clergy shaved the crown, the Irish clergy shaved the forehead. And in respect of Easter, the Irish had a cycle of eigiity-four years, instead of the Roman cycle of nineteen years. But the fact that other
12 A Histonj of the Irish Presbi/terians.
Christian communities — larger, wealthier, and more fashionable — celebrated this feast at a different time, seems to have had great weight with many in Ireland. The very same principle, which causes Presbyterians now to imitate Episcopacy, caused many Irish- men then to wish their Church to follow the example of Rome.
About 629, Pope Honorius wrote a letter to the Irish clergy, expostulating with them on their non-conformity with other Christians in respect of Easter. This seems to have been the first time that ever a Pope addressed a letter to the Irish Church ; and his communication was treated with respect. Deputies were appointed by a Synod to visit Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria to see how and when Easter was observed by foreign churches. These deputies reported that the practice of the Irish was different from that of all the churches they had visited. Cummian wrote a letter to the Abbot of Ion a showing that those who resisted the proposed change must hold that Rome errs, Antioch errs, Jerusalem errs ; the Irish and the Britains alone have the wisdom to be right. This letter, written in 634, produced a profound impression ; and the Roman method of reckoning Easter soon began to prevail in the North of Ireland. As the political power of Ulster diminished in Scotland, the ecclesiastical power of Scotland diminished in Ireland. The defeat of the Ulidians of Down and their Scotch allies, at Moira in 637, widened the breach, and caused the O'Neills, who reigned in Ulster, to look to Armagh rather than to lona. And Thomian, Abbot of Armagh, favoured the Roman custom.
The change of the Easter cycle was accomplished slowly and with great opposition. Sometimes rival parties decided this dispute by the sword. But the Roman custom, both with regard to Easter and to the tonsure, gradually prevailed ; and where they prevailed, the clergy began to pay more deference to Papal authority. The corruptions of Rome were by degrees introduced ; for there is always, the tendency to adopt the principles and to injitate the practices of that denomination which possesses the numbers, the wealth, and the influence.
For six hundred years after Patrick, there was no diocesan Episcopacy. The bishops were presbyters, the archbishops were those bishops who had obtained renown. The abbots of the monasteries, although exercising supervision over the bishops, were themselves presbyters. Of these abbots, the Co-arb of Patrick now began to acquire supremacy. Hugh Allen, King of Ireland, having defeated the King of Ulidia, and, afterwards, the King of Leiuster, tried to establish "The rule, law, and rent of Patrick" over Ireland. His orders were at first imjjerfectly executed ; but year by year the Abbot of Armagh acquired power, until at last he became supreme.
About this period, we first find mention made of the " Staff of Jesus," a celebrated crozier, covered with gold and adorned with precious stones, said to have been given by our Lord to a hermit who bestowed it on Saint Patrick. The possession of this relic was supposed to be proof of a commission from Christ ; and in after ages,.
From the Death of ColumhTxille to the English Conquest. 13
when diocesan Episcopacy was thoroughly established, the Bishop who possessed this precious crozier was thought to have proven his claim to be the successor of Patrick.
Towards the end of the eighth century, Ireland was attacked by the Danes or Northmen. In 823, they captured Bangor, murdered the Bisliop, and destroyed the shrine containing the relics of Comghall. In 882, they burned Armagh, and for centuries after- wards were a terror to the entire kingdom. Being Pagans, the churches or monasteries were no protection against them ; and Ireland, after their depredations, never recovered her former position in literature.
At that time the country was divided into five principal sovereignties — Ulster, Meath, Connaught, Leinster, and Munster. These were nominally under a chief monarch, but the provincial kings often fought bloody battles among themselves, and thei^r jealousies prevented unity of action against the Northmen. But, on the other hand, the invaders had no chance of subduing the country entirely, as they were met by a new enemy wherever they went. At last, in 1014, they were completely defeated at Clontarf by Brian Boru, King of Ireland, who was himself killed in the moment of victory. After this defeat, the Danes never regained their former power in Ireland. They embraced Christianity ; but a Christianity derived from Rome. Their bishoi)s were consecrated by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and through them a part of Ireland was rendered subject to Papal authority.
The Danes soon mingled with the Celts, and in a few generations could not be distinguished from the other inhabitants of the island. But the country never recovered from the results of their invasion. Many seats of learning, with their valuable coll«ctions of manu- scripts, had been destroyed. The Church was rapidly becoming corrupt, and the peculiar glory of the '* Isle of Saints" had passed away.
Meanwhile the Co-arb of Patrick, as the Abbot of Armagh was called, had gradually increased his power. About 822, " the law of Patrick was promulgated over Munster" by Felim, king of that province ; and two years later, the same law was promulgated in Connaught. Yet even then, diocesan Ej^iscopacy had not been introduced, and the proud Co-arb of Patrick was only a Presbyter.
About this period, however, many of the more aspiring of the clergy began to desire the Roman system of Church government, and some of the bishops sought Episcopal ordination. A great- grandson of Brian Boru, named Murtogh O'Brien, who now ruled the South, desired to establish a hierarchy. Like other kings, he thought that bishops gave dignity to a Church, added to the re- spectability of a kingdom, and were useful for controlling the clergj'. Besides, he was under weighty obligations to Anslem, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had obtained from King Henry pardon for the Earl of Pembroke, son-in-law of Murtogh. Finding that he could gratify the Archbishop by doing what was agreeable to himself, the
14 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
Irish Iviug permitted Samuel O'Hainglj-, chosen Bishop of the Danish town of DubUn, to be consecrated by Anslem. Tlie new Bishop caused great excitement by having liis cross carried before him as he walked abroad, thus claiming ecclesiastical precedence, which gave great offence to the noighbouriag bishops. In 1096, Malcus was consecrated Bishop of Waterford. About 1105, Gillebert, a friend of Anslem, became Bishop of Limerick. He exercised all his authority to make " tJie diverse and schismatical rituals with which almost all Ireland is deluded, give way to the one Catholic and Hoinan office.'''
When Malachy II. ruled the entire island, tribute was received by the Abbot of Armagh froai all the King's dominions. But now the kingdom was divided, and Armagh was under Donald M'Laugh- lan, the great enemy of Murtogh O'Brien. Accordingly, King Murtogh determined to raise in the South a rival to the proud Co-arb of Patrick, the Presbyter Primate of Ireland. He set up an Archbishop in Cashel, and presented that town to the Church " in honour of God and Patrick."
In 1105, Celsus, a man of education, and still in the vigour of youth, obtained the Book of Armagh, the Staff of Jesus, and with them the position of Abbot of Armagh. He immediately set about collecting his dues. In Ulster, he obtained " a cow from every six persons, and a lieifer in calf from every three persons, besides many other offerings." In Munster, he failed to obtain so much ; but he got " seven cows, seven sheep, and half an ounce of silver " from every one of the seventy cantreds into which the kingdom was divided, " besides many jewels."
Finding it difficult to collect his dues in the South, he determined to make a virtue of necessity, and submit to King Murtogh's plan of establishing diocesan Episcopacy. By this he would obtain the position of Archbishop, and might have a chance of being regarded as Primate of Ireland. Accordingly he consented to the meetmg of a convocation which, in 1110, assembled at Rathbreasail, and entirely changed the government of the Irish Church. Through the influence of King Murtogh, who was himself unable to read, Gillebert, Bishop of Limerick, acting on behalf of the Pope, presided in this Assembly. All Ireland was now placed under the Govern- ment of two archbishops and twenty-three bishops. Loath Moglia, or the South, was to have eleven diocesan bishops, under the Archbishop of Cashel; and Leath Cuinn, or the North, twelve diocesan bishops, under the Archbishop of Armagh. The Bishop of Dublin was permitted to remain under the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was not advanced to the Primacy as he expected. Thus, after six hundred years of Presbyterian government. Episcopacy was established. The world-renowned Co-arb of Patrick, became Arch- bishop of Armagh; and the Church, which hitherto owned no Pope but her own, " Pope Patrick," handed over her freedom to the Bishop of Rome.
Malachy O'Morgair, born in 1095, was the son of a clergyman. Appointed vicar of tlie Archbishop of Armagh, when only twenty-
From the Death of Columhhille to the English Conquest. 15
five years of age, be established the " customs of the holy Roman Church " wherever he had power. He was soon chosen Bishop of Connor, and, after the death of Celsus in 1129, having obtained pos- session of the " Staff of Jesus," became Archbishop of Armagh. Driven from his dioceses by Conor O'Lochlainn, King of Leath Cuinn, he was restored by Coner O'Brien, King of Munster, and Cormac Macarthy, King of Desmond. A few years afterwards, Malachy vohmtarily resigned his See, went to Rome, and was ap- pointed Papal Legate to Ireland. He then used all his power to make the Irish Church conform to the Roman in doctrine, and in worship. He succeeded in persuading a Syuod, which was attended by only fifteen bishops and two hundred priests, to apply to the Pope for palls. Malachy died soon afterwards on his way to Rome for these tokens of submission.
The Synod of Kells in 1152, admitted the primacy of the Arch- bishop of Armagh, prohibited the marriage of the clergy, and made arrangements for suppressing the parochial bishoprics. But in many places, these rules remained a dead letter. Several powerful families opposed all innovations, and it was not until the Conquest of Ireland bj- the Norman English that the country was entirely subjugated to the ecclesiastical government of Rome, and the proud Church of Patrick placed at the feet of St. Peter's " successor."
The external splendour which accompanied this internal corruption was nowhere more visible than in religious buildings. At first, the churches were generally constructed of timber or mud, thatched with reeds or straw. Sometimes they were built of stones without mortar, the roof of stone springing from the side walls by each course overlapping the one beneath, until keyed by one stone at the top. But in the tenth century another style was introduced, and soon more substantial buildings were erected.
The Culdee systcnj of Church Government, established by Columbkille in Scotland, on the model of the Irish, was overthrown a little before this period. For many years, it had successfully resisted the encroachments of Rome, but at last David II., who died in 1153, determined to make his kingdom subject to Papal authority. The native clergy refused to submit, but the King, by appointing foreigners to the vacant benefices, succeeded in overcoming oppo- sition. For this great service, he was made a Saint ; but James I. remarked, " St. David proved a sore Saint for the Crown."
16 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE ENGLISH CONQUEST TO THE REFORMATION.
Jiy^ N Englishman, named Nicholas Breakspear, had in a.d. 1154, r^KjL^ under the title of Adrian IV., become Pope of Rome. At the ■J^LL request of Henry II., he issued in 1156, a Bull conferring on the English King the Sovereignity of Ireland for " enlarging the borders of the Church," in order that " the religion of the Christian faith may be planted and grow up," and that Henry might " reduce the people to obedience to laws, and extirpate the nurseries of vice," plainly proving that, even then, the Pope's authority in Ireland was not supreme. Henry, on his part, agreed to pay the Pope " a yearly pension of one penny from every house." But for some time he was unable to attempt the conquest. At last, chance presented the desired opportunity.
Dermot Macmorrogh, King of Leinster, had taken away Dover- gilda, wife of O'Ruarc, Prince of Breffny. But the injured husband, with the a^ssistance of Roderic, King of Connaught, drove Dermot from his dominions. The fugitive Prince fled to Henry, who empowered his subjects to aid him in recovering his possessions. Dermot now made an agreement with Richard de Clare, surnamed Strongbow, to whom he gave his daughter P^va in marriage, declaring her heir to his dominions. He and Strongbow obtained the assistance of other knights, and, with a small force, ventured, in 1169, to invade Ireland. The Irish were unprovided witli defensive armour. They went into battle with shirts of " fine linen," while the strangers were "one mass of iron." Accordingly, the invaders w^ere easily victorious, and Dermot soon regained possession of his dominions. But he lived only a short time to enjoy his recovered dignity. By his death, Strongbow became ruler of Leinster, and soon determined to attempt the conquest of all Ireland. Henry himself came over, in 1171, and found the Irish so much dejected by their late defeats, that he had little to do but receive homage from the chieftains. The nation had valour without arms cr discipline, and the love of freedom without the spirit of union. Therefore, little resistance was offered to the superior strength springing from the superior civilization of their invaders. But, for century after century, the obedience they rendered was merely nominal. Tliey fought on to regain their liberty, the English to retain their conquest.
Except in the English " Pale," as the district around Dublin was called, the invaders did not generally attempt to take possession of the lands, as their fathers who came with WilUiam, had done in England. And in cases where they did accept of estates, their descendants intermarried with Kelts and became assimilated to the
From the English Conquest to the Beforniatlon. 17
native race. The Irish princes remained independent rulers, making war on one another, and giving a mere nominal obedience to the King. But, devoid of a spirit of union, they were just as ready to assist the English against their rivals at home as to combine with one another to expel their oppressors. The influence of the clergy told as powerfully in favour of the English as internal divisions. ^ The bishops received Henry gladly, and took the oath of allegiance without hesitation, throwing the weight of their power as willingly against the political liberty of their country, as they had previously done against its religious liberty, when first it became subject to Rome. The Irish Church lost its purity, and the country its freedom, as results of clerical power.
In 1172, a Synod assembled at Cashel, from which laymen were excluded. This Synod decreed that Divine service should be regulated after the Roman model. Thus, the King and clergy, victorious over the people, doomed to destruction the Old Irish Church, the first institution that fell in the conquered kingdom.
Masses were now commonly celebrated, and the people^ no longer instructed in their own language, were soon reduced to a state of barbarism. Churches were built, tithes began to be paid to the clergy, monasteries were erected, and so richly endowed that their abbots ranked high among the territorial aristocracy ; but the wealth which the Church gained was a poor compensation for the spiritual life which she lost. With external prosperity there was internal decay. As love for aesthetic architecture grew strong, love for the beauty of holiness grew weak. " Tlie Church brought forth riches, but the daughter devoured the mother." The moral power of the people was the price paid for the political power of the clergy. Ireland, ceasing to be an " Isle of Saints," soon became an island of robbers and murderers.
The few village bishops who now remained, soon ceased to exist. The new bishops, rulers of the clergy, and not instructors of the people, became as powerful as the princes themselves. The Archbishop of Dublin had a gallows erected on which to execute the criminals condemned in his Court. In the reign of Edward I., a widow named Margaret le Blunde petitioned His Majesty, because the property awarded to her by the judges had been seized by the Archbishop of Cashel, who had killed her father, imprisoned her grandfather and grandmother till they had died of hunger, and had starved to death her six brothers and sisters because they had claimed a share of what the prelate retained.
Indulgences were now openly sold, the worship of relics w^as permitted, and pilgrimages became common. Celebrated throughout Christendom was St. Patrick's Purgatory, situated on an island of Lough Derg, Co. Donegal. There the Pilgrim was supposed to anticipate the pains of Purgatory, and thus be enabled to escape much suffering after death. Pilgrims flocked in crowds to this place of penance from all the neighbouring countries, and it became a great source of profit to those in whose charge it existed. Closed by order of the Pope, in 1497, it was afterwards re-opened, and even
18 A Historij of the Irish Presbyterians.
now, many pilgrims seek by their penitential sufferings in Lough Derg, to escape punishment after death.
In 1814, Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, defeated with great slaughter Edward II., King of England, at Bannockburn, near Stirling. This victory fired the hearts of the Irish, a)id some of their princes requested Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert, to assume the sovereignty of Ireland. To this request he sent a favourable answer, and next year landed with 6,000 men to drive the English out of the island. Edward Bruce, although rash and headstrong, was a brave warrior. He won eighteen battles in Ireland, and was crowned King at Dundalk. But the Pope ex- communicated all who opposed Edward of England, the dear son of the Church ; and several Irish princes took part with the English, from whom Bruce had been invited to deliver them. At last, on the 18th October, 1318, he accepted battle from the enemy, near Dundalk, without waiting for the arrival of his brother, who was already on the way from Scotland with reinforcements. Edward Bruce was himself slain, and his army defeated with great slaughter.
It would be altogether foreign to our purpose to recount the rebellions of the Irish against English authority, or the nu;nerous wars carried on among themselves. Robbery and plunder, dignified by the name of warfare, were the only occupations they considered honourable. Their religion, which had been a source of light to Europe and of power to themselves, had now become a superstition without any life-giving principle. The might of their oppressors had imposed on them both political and religious bondage. Yet, while ready to rebel against political subjection, they regarded with pride the moral fetters by which England had bound them to Rome.
As years rolled on, the English made but little progress in stamping their image on the Irish nation. The tendency was in an opposite direction. Many of the colonists, notwithstanding severe penalties directed against the custom, married Irish wives, and brought up families who were Irish in their habits, language, and political tendencies. The custom of fosterage, which they adopted from the natives, was one of the most powerful causes of trans- forming the Anglo-Norman knights into Irish chieftains. Their children, brought up by tlie Irish, adopted the nationality of their foster parents. And although it was, in 1867, enacted by a Parlia- ment, held in Kilkenny, that all intermarriages, festerings, and gOFsipred with the Irish should be counted treason, these customs still prevailed ; and the children of colonists continued to lend the strength of a superior civilization to the spirit of Irish nationality •which their fathers had come to subdue. They preferred to be Irish princes rather than be English landlords. The wars of the Roses still further weakened the English authority, and the Pale was now restricted to part of the four counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Kildare.
Sir Edward Poynings, appointed Deputy of Ireland in 1494, got a Parliament, held at Drogheda the following year, to pass an Act, by Trhich the Irish legislature was prevented from considering bills
From the English Conquest to the Reformation. 19
unless they had been, previously, approved by the King and Council in England. This law remained in force till 1782, and was often the cause of agitation and discontentment.
During the reign of Henry VII., the country was, to a great extent, ruled by the Anglo-Norman family of the Geraldines, " All Ireland," it was said to the King, " is no match for the Earl of Kildare." " Then," said Henry, "let the Earl of Kildare govern all Ireland." And thus the hr>ad of the proud Geraldines became ruler of the land. On one occasion the Earl was accused to the King, by the Archbishop of Cashel, with burning his principal church. On being asked whether the charge was true, Kildare replied that he would never have thought of burning the Church, only he was told that the Archbishop was within !
At this time, the common people of Ireland were little better than the Caff res of Africa at present, and even the nobility were without education or refinement. The city of Armagh is described as a " Vain City, devoid of good morals, Avhere women go naked, flesh is eaten raw, and poverty resides in their dwellings." " Civitas Armachana, Civitas vana,
Absque bonis moribus,
Mnlieres nudae, carues crudae,
Pauperitas in ^dibus."
The people sheltered themselves and their cattle in miserable huts, built of hurdles and long turf. They drove their flocks hither and thither over the territory of the tribe, making the cliief a small payment for each beast they owned. Strife and bloodshed seemed to be the great business of their lives. Murder could be atoned for by a fine, and there was no security for life or for property. An ancient writer has said the souls of the people were then falling to liell as thick as showers of hail. The morals of the clergy were little better than the morals of those whom they instructed. Donald, Bishop of Derry, was known to be a notorious sinner ; but lie was permitted to retain his See, after being subjected to penance. O'Hedian, Archbishop of Cashel, was accused of not only keeping a mistress, but of permitting her to wear a ring which had been worn on a finger of an image of St. Patrick, and the latter offence was regarded as by far the more heinous. We find an Archdeacon who had two sons, and a Bishop who made his own illegitimate son an Archdeacon. The continual struggles for precedence between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin often led to bloodshed.
Whenever a dispute arose between the clergy and the Crown, the Poi^e sided svith the clergy in all questions regarding their claims, and wdth the Crown in all questions of allegiance. But, before long, the Pope and the Irish people came to be on the same side in politics as well as iu religion.
20 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
CHAPTER IV.
FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE ULSTER PLANTATION.
r^ENRY VIII. ascended the Throne of England in 1509, being l__.-p then in his 19th year ; and, strange to say, the world has LIMIL gained more benefit from his vices than from his virtues. Having failed to persuade the Pope to grant him a divorce from liis Queen, he caused the parliament, which met in 1581, to declare him head of the Church ; and, in 1534, it was completely separated from Rome. The people silently and sullenly acquiesced. The change of law produced a change of religion in England ; but in Scotland, a change of religion produced a change of law and of government. The Scotch reformers being victorious, j^urged the Church from every error which they could discover, and stripped her of every ornament not sanctioned by Scripture. In England, the form of the new religion arose from a silent compromise. The Reformed Church was left as like the Romish as possible, in order to get the people to acquiesce in the supremacy of the King ; and hence has never been so successful as the Church of Scotland in her con- tendmgs with Popery.
In Ireland, the Government were slow to act. It was 1537 before the King was declared head of the Church, and appeals to Rome forbidden. But everything was against the progress of Protestantism. The liberty of the ancient Irish Church was for- gotten. The Anglo-Norman conquerers of Ireland had been more successful in rendering the people submissive to the spiritual power of the Pope, than to the political power of England. The O'Neills, and almost all the other native princes, owned a mere nominal sub- jection to the authority of Henry. In their own territories, they had the power of life and of death. They hated the English as oppressors, and they became more firmly attached to their religion, when told to lay it aside by their enemies.
Besides, they expected the power of the Pope would enable them to obtain help in their political struggles. They were assured by the Jesuites that if they remained firm in the old faith, they ^ould secure assistance from the Catholics of the Continent. The power of the Papal See, always against them in their struggles of the past, would now be exercised in their favour. Why then should they part with their religion to please the enemy by whom they were oppressed, and alienate the friend by whom they expected to be delivered ? Accordingly the Irish princes refused to accept of the Reformation, and there was no means of inducing the peoj)le to receive doctrines rejected by their princes.
Even in the English Pale, the Reformation made little progress among the natives. Their language was proscribed by the Govern-
From the Bcformation to the Ulster Plantation. 21
ment, who thus refused to employ the only means by which the people could be made to understand the Keformed faith, and thus led to adopt the religion of England, become reconciled to her rule. But the opportunity was missed ; and, until this day, the Irish have remained among the most faithful adherents of that •Church to which they were the last in Europe to submit.
The first preacher of the Protestant faith in Ireland was George Browne, wdiom the King, in 1535, appointed Archbishop of Dublin. By his orders, the ''Staff of Jesus" was consigned to the flames. This celebrated crozier, supposed to possess the iDower of working miracles, had, for seven hundred years, been regarded with the utmost veneration ; and every adherent of the ancient faith was horrified by its destruction.
In Ulster, Con O'Neill, incited by the Pope, made war on the English, but defeated in 1539, he promised to acknowledge Henry as head of the Church. Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, made a similar submission ; and throughout the Pale, the clergy generally took the oath of supremacy. But these submissions were merely nominal. Neither then nor afterwards did any large proportion of the Irish priests or people consent to give up a religion they loved to please a people whom they hated.
King Henry himself can hardly be considered a reformer. la England, he belieaded as traitors those who were for the Pope ; and lie burned as heretics those who were against the Pope. At this time there was no persecution in Ireland. But the Keformed faith ■could not make progress when it was considered a crime to teach the people in the only language they understood.
Henry died in 1547, and was succeeded by his son Edward VI., who, although not ten years of age, soon manifested a leaning towards Protestantism. During his reign the English liturgy was read in a few of the Irish cities and towns; but not being understood by the natives, made but a slight impression. Several bishops favourable to the Reformed faith were now appointed. Of these the most 'Celebrated was Bale, who attempted to instruct the people by dramatic representations of Scriptural events. Even he could do but little, as he was opposed by an iguorant clergy, who were Homaiiists in everything but name.
Edward died in 1553, and was succeeded by his sister Mary, a bigotted Roman Catholic, who soon re-established the ancient faith in both England and Ireland. Hugh Curwin was appointed Arch- bishop of Dublin, and others, supposed to be staunch Romanists, were nominated to the sees left vacant by the Protestant bishops, who were driven from the country. Bale remained for about two months ; but five of his servants were killed, and he had to make his escape by night, lest he should be torn to i)ieces by a furious mob.
A parliament met, which restored the supremacy of the Pope, and enacted that heretics should be burnt for the terror of others. But, there were few in Ireland firmly attached to the Re- formed faith, and the Viceroy was not anxious to appear a
22 A History of the Irish P^-eshyterians.
persecutor. Accordingly, this country became a place of refuge for the Protestants persecuted in England, where Latimer, and Ridley, and many other distinguished leaders perished at the stake.
Shortly before Queen Mary's death, Dr. Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, was; sent to the Irish Viceroy,''' with authority to punish the Protestants- Arrived at Chester, he showed his commission to the Mayor, and boasted how he would torture the Irish heretics. This conversation was overheard by a woman named Elizabeth Edmonds, in whose house Dr. Cole was lodging. She was a Protestant, and a brother of her's had lied to Dublin for safety. Mrs. Edmonds watched for an opportunity, stole Dr. Cole's commission out of the box in w^hich it was carried, and substituted a pack of cards wdth the knave of clubs uppermost. When Cole aj)peared before the council in Dublin, he explained the nature of his commission, and handed to the sec- retary the box in which it had been placed. But, w^hen opened, it was found to contain nothing except a pack of cards. The Viceroy, who secretly favoured Protestantism, seemed rather pleased. He- directed Cole to procure a new commission, and said they would,, meanwhile, shuffle the cards. But, before the necessary document, could be obtained, the Queen died and Irish Protestants escaped the horrors of a religious x^ersecution.
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII. , ascended the throne in 1558. Fearing that the supremacy of tlie Pope w^ould interfere wath her own ambitious schemes, she inclined to the faith Avhich per- mitted her to rule both Church and State. In one session, without violence or tumult, the religion of the English nation. Avas again changed. The people, ever ready to mould their moral principles according to the will of the Sovereign, became Protestants for Eliza- beth as readily as they had become Catholics for Mary. Attached to the old forms, j^et hating the old abuses, they w^ere a plain sheet of paper on which the Queen wrote whatever religion she liked. The wdll of one weak woman determined the future faith of the race which speaks the English tongue.
In Ireland, the Earl of Sussex, re-appointed Viceroy, caused the Litany to be sung in English. The Romanists raised a report that an image of Christ in the Cathedral had begun to sweat blood, to show the wrath of God against those who were trA'ing to reform the Church. But, Curwin, who had determined to again embrace Protestantism, found that a sponge soaked in blood had been placed behind the crown of thorns, on the head of the image. Those guilty of the trick had to do public penance ; and, upwards of one hundred Papists were so disgusted at the artifice that they turned Protestants.. Curwin, the Archbishop, once more changed his religion to preserve bis position. In the presence of King Henry, he had preached against Frith when in prison for denying Purgatory and transub- stantiation, thus using his influence in favour of the prisoner's
* Dr. Reid is astray in stating (Hist, of thePres. Church, Vol. I., p. 42) that this document was sent to Lord-Deputy Fitz waiter, as that nobleman had been previously succeeded by Sussex.
From the Beformation to the Ulster Plantation. 23
martyrdom. A Protestant, under Edward YI., he suddenly became zealous for the Old Faith in the reign of Mary. His zeal was now transferred to the religion he had laboured to destroy a few months previously. Yet this man is the connecting link in the chain of Apostolic succession, which is supposed to join the Episcopal Church in Ireland with the ancient Church of St. Patrick. Of the Bishops, only Curwin and Field can be proved to have embraced Protestant- ism, and only Curwin assisted at the consecration of newly appointed Bishops. He had been himself consecrated at London House by English Bishops, under the presidency of the bloody Bonner, whose orders can be traced step by step to Halsay, Bishop of Leighlin in Ireland. This, however, would not prove any con- nection with the Old Irish Church, as Halsay was an Englishman, and had been ordained at Rome.
Accordingly, the Irish Episcopal Church utterly fails to trace its orders to the Church of St. Patrick. Besides, if such a thing as Apostolic succession exists anywhere, it would be better to have it through the honest Bishops, who refused to conform, than through men like Curwin, whose guiding principle was to retain his position of Archbishop, and who was more celebrated for his habit of " swearing terribly," than for zeal in discharging the duties of his oflB.ce. In 1560, an Act provided for the uniformity of the Irish Church with the English in doctrine and in worship. So prejudiced was the Government against the Irish language, that it was arranged the service should be in Latin where the minister did not understand English. The laws made for the punishment of heretics were re- pealed, but it was enacted that a fine of one shilling should be imposed for each Sunday that a person might be absent from public worship.
The native clergy resolutely remained Roman Catholics, and in this resolution they were strengthened by the Reformed Church re- fusing to acknowledge the existence of Purgatory, and thereby cut- ting off a valuable source of revenue. Begging Friars went about everywhere preaching against the Reformed religion, and denouncing the English as oppressors. The Protestant clergy did not understand, and the government had attached penalties to the use of the only tongue in which the Irish could be instructed.
In 1570, Pius Y. excommunicated Queen Elizabeth, declared her deprived of the kingdom, and absolved the people from obedience to her commands. His Bull, regarded with contempt in England, was the means of strengthening the opposition to Elizabeth in Ireland ; but, the government, nevertheless, was administered with vigour, and every rebellion subdued.
Con O'Neill, who ruled a large portion of Ulster, had, in 1542, accepted the earldom of Tyrone, from Henry YIIL, subject to the principles of English succession, and not according to the Irish cus- tom of Tanistry, by which the most worthy of the tribe was, during the lifetime of the head, chosen as his successor. The new-made Earl promised to give up calling himself " The O'Neill," to recognize Henry as head of the Church, and to compel his tribe to make a
24 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
similar submission. His illegitimate son, Matthew (supposed to be in reality the son of a blacksmith named Kelly), was created Baron of Dungannon, and recognized as his successor.-'' But another son called Shane, or ".John the Proud," refused to recognize this com- j)act, made war on his father, and slew^ Matthew. Old Con did not live long afterwards ; and Shane, despising an English title, ■was proclaimed " The O'Neill." As Protestantism was the religion of his enemies, he preferred the Koman Catholic faith. Fired ■with the ambition of being King of Ulster, he imagined that by the influence of the Pope he would procure aid from the Catholic Sov- ereigns of the Continent to accomplish his designs. Having carried on a successful war with the English for a lengthened period, he was at last admitted to a treaty of peace. But again rebelling, he was defeated, and in 1567 slain by the Macdonells, at Cushendun, in a drunken carousal.
The Irish Chiefs had doubtless a difficult game to play. If they •were faithful to the King, they were detested by their people. If they were faithful to their people, they were regarded as rebels by the King. The Butlers and the Fitzgeralds or Geraldines were the most powerful families in the South. The chiefs of both were of English descent, and bitter enemies of one another. The Earl of Ormond, head of the Butlers, was a Protestant ; but his great rival, the Earl of Desmond, chief of a younger branch of the Geraldines, of whom the Earl of Kildare was liead, professed the Roman Catholic faith. A quarrel arose between Ormond and Desmond. f The latter refusing to submit to the decision of the Deputy, was placed in prison. The Geraldines and their friends now rebelled. They re- ceived assistance from Spain, and the war continued for a lengthened period. The Earl Desmond, released from prison, after hesitating for a while, escaped from surveillance, and joined his friends on their revolt. At last, he was defeated and killed. Munster was paci- fied. Famine now claimed what the sword had left, and " the low- ing of a cow, or the voice of the ploughman could scarcely be heard from Dunqueen to Cashel in Munster." Edmond Spencer tells us that the natives "were brought to such wretchednesse, as that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every corner of the woods and glynues, they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their leggcs could not beare them ; they looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves ; they did eate the dead carrions, happy where they could finde them, yea, and one another soone after, in so much as the very carcesses they spared not to scrape out of their graves. In short space there was none
* Dr. Collier is mistaken when he asserts (Hist, of Ireland, p. 108) that Shane (or John) O'Neill, was an illegitimate son of the first Earl of Tyrone, and the Earl's lawful heir the Baron of Dungannon.
t As the Butlers carried Desmond wounded from the field of battle, one of them asked in triumph, "where is now the great Desmond?" But the wounded man scornfully replied — " still upon the necks of the Butlers."
From the Beformation to the Ulster Plantation. 25
almost left." Among the many Englishmen who now obtained grants from Desmond's forfeited estates were Spencer himself, and Sir AValter Kaleigh. To the latter Ireland owes the introduction of the potato as an article of food.
Meanwhile, the Reformation was giving life and strength to the English nation. The hrst proof of that new vigour was shown in 1588 by the defeat of the Spanish Armada — an event pregnant with disappointment to the Irish chieftains, who always regarded the difficulties of England as the opportunities of Ireland. Yet, many of the unfortunate Spaniards, wrecked on the coast of Connaught, were robbed and murdered by natives themselves.
In 1571, a feeble attempt was made to instruct the Irish Kelts through the medium of their own language. Types were brought to Dublin, and a catechism and primer printed in Irish. About the beginning of the next century the New Testament was published in the same language. But the mere publication of books, which the j)eople were unable to read, produced but little effect.
The English landlords of Irish estates had seized a great part of the parochial endowments, which formerly belonged to the mon- asteries ; but they gave themselves no trouble to provide substitutes to discharge the duties involved by the possession of this property. Many churches were permitted to tumble into ruins, and if vicars •were appointed, they were often boys of ten years old, soldiers, servants, or others equally ignorant, who neither read the Scriptures nor preached to the people ; while Homan Catholic friars still went about everywhere denouncing the Reformation. Some of the Irish, known as Church Fajyists, attended Protestant services occasionally; and almost the entire native race was then an unwritten tablet on which England might have engraven whatever religious principles she desired. Half the money spent by Elizabeth in useless wars would have given the Irish instruction sufficient to have separated them from Rome — always urging them to rebellion. Their religion, more political than theological, was strengthened by the spnit of nationality, which is, even yet, the main-spring of an Irishman's religious fervour ; for we see that fervour soon lost when tlie Kelt is placed in America, where patriotism is no longer connected with Popery. Towards the end of the century. Queen Elizabeth directed a University to be established in Dublin. The Episcopal Primate, Loftus, althougli strongly opposed to the scheme, had to submit. On a site granted by the corporation, buildings were erected by vol- untary subscriptions ; and on the 9th of January, 1594, the New In- stitution was opened. It was named Trinity College, it soon became popular, and in the course of time raised the standard of education among clergymen of the Episcopal Church. One of its first students was James Ussher, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh. Walter Travers, appointed Provost, was an English Puritan, who had received Presbyterian ordination in Holland. The first elected fellow^s were James Fullerton and James Hamilton, also Presbyterians. Hamilton was son of a Scotch clergyman, and be acted, when in Dublin, as a political agent of King James VI.
26 A Historij of the Irish Preshyierians.
of Scotland. He afterwards became the first Lord Claneboy.
The Puritan party were now becommg pow^erful in England. They did not form a separate sect, but consisted of these ardent Protestants in the English Church who desired to do away with vestments, ceremonies and liturgies ; and to substitute a Presbyterian for an Episcopal form of Church Government. During previous persecutions, many Protestants had taken refuge on the Continent, where they found churches more thoroughly purged from the errors of Komanism tlian their own. They imbibed not only the religious principles of these churches, but also the pDlitical principles of liberty which prevailed in the Continental republics. On their return to England, they not only aimed at reforming the half -reformed Church, but also at limiting the power of the Crown. Although Elizabeth was jealous of their religious and political tendencies, she was far too able a ruler to subject them to persecution, and they soon became powerful among the middle class throughout England.
In Ireland, the laws against heresy had been repealed, and Papists suffered from political rather than from religious per- secution. Dermot O'Hurley, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, w^as, on a charge of treason, brought before the Lords Justices, among whom was Loftus, the Protestant Primate. The prisoner, accused of having carried letters from Rome to some of the Irish rebels, was cruelly tortured, tried by a court martial, and hanged as a traitor.
Hugh O'Neill, son of Matthew and reputed grandson of Con, had been brought up at the English court, and recognized as Earl of Tyrone. In the war with Desmond, he commanded a troop of horse for the English. When in Tyrone, he was a Romanist, but, when in Dublin, he conformed to the established religion. After the death of his wife, he fell in love with and married Mabel, sister of Sir Henry Bagnal. For her accommodation, he began to build a new castle at Dungannou. The house in which he resided was thatched wdth heather, and he procured a large quantity of lead to roof the new building. But before the walls were finished, he had risen in revolt, and the lead was melted into bullets, of which one afterwards found its way into the brain of his brother-in-law. At first, the Irish chief was successful in his rebellion. Where the Battleford Bridge now stands, two miles from Eglish, and the same distance from Benburb, he inflicted, in 1597, a severe defeat on the Lord Deputy, w^ho afterwards died of his wounds. And, on the 15th of August, 1598, he completely overthrew Bagnal, at the Yellow Ford, between Armagh and Blackwatertown.-'= Bagnal was killed, and 1,700 of his men were left dead on the field of battle. But, afterwards, the English prosecuted the w^ar with more vigour, and notwithstanding Spanish assistance, O'Neill was defeated by Mountjoy. He then submitted to the Government, and received his pardon.
* Not on the Blackwater, as stated by several historians.
The Ulster Plantation. 27
CHAPTER V.
THE ULSTER PLANTATION.
4/^'^UEEN ELIZABETH died in 1603, and was succeeded by 'iinirf) J^ii^es YL, King of Scotland. In Scotland the Protestant A^5^ Reformation had produced a vast effect on its inhabitants. John Knox, a man of learning, eloquence, and fearless •courage, had led the reformers to victory. A system of education was provided for the people. The i)rinciples of Protestantism sank into their hearts, and changed the habits of their lives. In two generations " men of clay" were transformed into " men of iron." An ignorant and changeable people became the foremost race in the world, possessed of all the qualities necessary to render the Kelts of Ireland subject to the authority of England. Hitherto, English colonists had been absorbed by the Irish. But now another des- cription of colonist w^as to settle in Ulster, capable of holding the Kelt in subjection, and keeping the " back door " of access to England closed against all iier enemies.
After James became King of England, he appointed, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, who earnestly desired to see the country colonized w^ith men of his own race and religion. It was reported that he intended to seize the Earl of Tyrconnell, and the Earl of Tyrone; but these two chieftains, with many of their friends, fled from the country in 1607, and never returned. All their estates now fell to the Crown, and became available for purposes of plantation.
Con O'Neill of Castlereagh, three miles from Belfast, had large €states in that neighbourhood. A quantity of wune, which he had ordered from Sj^ain, was detained on its arrival, until he would pay a, lately imposed duty, concerning which he neither knew nor understood anything. The old chieftain's blood arose, and he ordered his followers to bring the wine by force ; but they were driven off by the soldiers. O'Neill was now accused of making war on the government, and lodged in Carrickfergus Castle. His wife brought her husband a present of two large cheeses, hollo 'v within and tilled wath ropes. By means of these he succeeded in escaping to Bangor, where he lay hid in the church steeple until he had an opportunity of escaping to Scotland. Through the influence of Mr. Hugh Montgomery, O'Neill received forgiveness, but retained only one-third of his estate, the other two-thirds being divided according to agreement between Montgomery and Mr. James Hamilton, ex- Eellow of Trinity Colllege, who as Stewart states, assisted in procuring O'Neill's pardon. In 1608, Sir Cahir O'Dogherty perished in rebellion, and his lauds were confiscated. Mulmorie O'Reilly, ■whose father died fighting for the English at Yellow Ford, and whose mother was a niece of the Duke of Ormond, had to accept of
28 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
a "proportion" of his lands. Other native chieftains, against, whom there was no accusation of disloyalty, were compelled to surrender a large part of their property, and a vigorous- attempt was now made to plant the country with Protestants^
It is asserted by Hill, that as a result of the flight of the Earls,, and of an Act of Parliament, known as the 11th of Elizabeth, no- less than 3,798,000 acres in Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan, were placed at the disposal of the Crown, and made available for plantation. These lands were now granted to three- classes of proprietors. The first were English and Scottish under- takers, who were to plant with tenants from England or Scotland,, and conform themselves in religion according to his Majesty's laws.. The second were "servitors" or military undertakers, who were- permitted to take Irish tenants ; and the third were native Irish who obtained grants. The first paid a yearly rent of i:5 6s 8d, the second of iS, and the third of ilO 13s 4d for every 1,000 acres. But if the servitors planted part of their estates with English or Scotch tenants, their rents for all the lauds thus colonized would be the same as was paid by the first class.
This plantation was a means of changing the tenure by which the Ulster peasantry held their lands. The Govern- ment of Ireland had been tribal and not feudal. It was the- tribe who owned the soil, the tribe who, in the lifetime of the chief, elected his " tanist" to succeed him at death. The tanist was supposed to be the man who would be best fitted to rule them in peace and to lead them on the day of battle^ Often he was chosen to the exclusion of the sons belonging to him he was to succeed. The chief, therefore, held the lands, not for himself, but as trustee for his kindred ; and he was known by the aj)pellation of The, prefixed to the name of his family. The cattle were driven about everywhere through the possessions of the tribe^ Eents, generally in kind, were paid according to the number of the flock which an individual owned, and not for possession of a farm^ The families in charge of cattle went with them from one district to another, residing in rude huts made of wattles and sods. But those to whom the forfeited estates were granted owned the soil. They were landlords having power to evict their tenants and give toothers, the farms made valuable by the labour of those evicted. The forfeited estates were divided into portions of 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000» acres, with bogland and woodland in addition. Every owner of 2,000 acres was bound to build a castle, witJi a bawn or walled enclosure ; every owner of 1,500 acres to build a stone or brick house, with a bawn ; and every owner of 1,000 acres to build a. bawn. The undertakers were required to bring from England or from Scotland 48 able-bodied tenants for each 2,000 acres. In every county there was to be at least one free grammar school ; and also,. a convenient number of market towns, which, according to Edmund Spencer, have a vast civilizing effect on country people who frequent them to sell their produce.
Since the landlords had obtained their estates for a penny or two-
The Ulster Plantation. 29
pence an acre, the Government intended that tenants %YOuld be partners in the transaction, and have their farms at moderate rents. These rents were often less than a shilhng an acre. But the farmers, bnilt their houses, drained the marshes, and cleared the woods. Although they failed to obtain from their rapacious landlords the certain estates and other privileges the Government desired, they were from the first permitted to sell the good-will of their holdings. This was the foundation of the Ulster Tenant Right.. Custom, concerning which tliere was so much contention afterwards. But the Government made a mistake in leaving tenants to the tender mercies of their landlords, without giving them a legal right to the property created by their labour. And the partial confis- cation of that property afterwards, by the unjust raising of their rents, was a great cause of discontentment among Protestant Saxons, in the North, as well as among Boman Catholic Kelts in the South.
The Government having ax)propriated the property of the natives because of their disloyalty, were exceedingly short-sighted to permit one class of their own supporters to appropriate the jDroperty of another class of their supporters. The landlords having obtained a possession for which they never had toiled, gi-adually confiscated the labour of the very parties who preserved them in that possession.
In 1609, the forfeited lands Avere surveyed by commissioners, many grants were made to undertakers and servitors, and all things prepared for planting Ulster with another race, professing another religion. The Episcopal Church received a large proportion; Trinity College was not forgotten ; and the greater part of County Derry was given to the Corporation of London, on condition of building and fortifying Londonderry and Coleraine, and thus si)ending i*20,000 on the property. A committee of the Corporation called the Irish Society, was formed, whose duty was to carry out the plantation of their estates.
Next year, the first settlers began to arrive. Some came from England, but most were from Scotland. The Englisli settled in the southern part of the province ; while the Scots occupied the north and centre, including Tyrone, " the fayrest and goodliest countrye in Irelande universallie." Among these settlers were so many who left their country for their country's good, that it became a pro- verb regarding any one not doing well, to say that his latter end would be " Ireland." But the great body of colonists were earnest and industrious. Succeeding bands were even more earnest and more industrious, while the most worthless among them were, in every mental and moral quality, far above the Irish by whom they were surrounded.
At first, these settlers erected their rude, rush-thatched huts near the landlord's castle for protection, and every night they had to place their flocks within the Availed enclosure by which that castle was surrounded, for fear of the Irish driving them off in the darkness. But, afterAvards, as the settlers became more numerous, they ventured to build their houses here and there in little clusters.
•30 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
called towns. This caused each farmer's land to be divided into lots, separated one from another, and mixed up with the lots of •others.
Many of the natives, driven to the mountains or w^oods, were known as woodkernes. and lived by plunder. But woe betide the unfortunate woodkerne when taken in theft ! Small crimes were punished by death. Some, like the Grecian lawgiver, regretted there was no greater punishment for greater crimes. Bloodhounds were kept for tracing these outlaws, who, when taken, were often shot without trial. If tried, they were generally fouud guilty, and, when ; sentenced, halters were immediately put round their necks, they were then led through the principal streets of the town to the place of execution, and hanged in the most barbarous manner. But wood- kernes were not the only enemies of the settlers. Large flocks of wolves roamed about by night, and often made sad havoc among their cattle. The laud was unfenced and undrained. Much of it was covered with woods, affording refuge to the the outlaws. But, ■on the other hand, rents were low and labour did not cost much. The laws were repealed which made it criminal to have any deal- ings with the native Irish, who were now employed by the settlers as domestic servants. The wages of a ploughman was six shillings -and eight pence a quarter. A servant maid got ten shilings a year. Labourers received two pence, and tradesmen six pence a day. A cow was worth about a pound, and a horse four pounds. But money was then more valuable than now, and purchased more of the neces- saries of life. In the past, Irishmen had thought labour a disgrace. Old Con O'Neill had cursed those who sowed wheat as well as those who learned English. Their chief sustenance came from cattle, and their food was milk, and butter, and herbs such as "scurvy grass." But the colonists drained the swamps, cut down the woods, sowed wheat, and planted the potatoe — an article of food lately brought from America. Barley w^as also cultivated extensively, and was prepared for use by pounding in those round stone troughs, still to be seen at old farm houses, and preserved as curiosities.
Even then a trade in linen had taken root in the country. Ex- isting before the foot of a Saxon had been placed on its free soil, it was now carried on with vigour and success. The colonists sowed flax, spun the fiax into yarn, and wove the yarn into linen cloth. The cloth when sold produced much of the money they obtained. There was also woollen cloth manufactured. Both commodities were easily conveyed over bad roads to the seaports for exporta- tion; and were highly esteemed abroad.
With their lands at a nominal rent, their clothing and their tools manufactured by themselves, with linen and woollen cloth, cattle and horses to sell, the colonists soon began to thrive. As the woods were cut and the marshes drained, a larger proportion was ■cultivated. The land, after its long rest, brought forth abundantly. The success of the settlers induced many of their friends from Scot- land to follow. The vacant parts of the country were occupied. The woodman's axe rang in the forests, and the husbandman's plough
Preshytcrianisrn ivitliin the Ejnscojml Church. 31
turned up the fruitful soil in the plains. Notwithstanding a difference of race and of religion, a common humanity was often sufficient to establish a feeling of friendship between the settlers and the more civilized of the Irish. The woodkernes were subdued or exterminated, and prosperity began to reign in Ulster.
CHAPTER yi.
PRESBYTERIAXISM AVITHIX THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
I^AXY of the first settlers were Presbj'terians, but an effort ^:|b ^'^^ made to include them within the Episcopal Establisb-
"^ ment. The leaders of that church were then inclined to
Puritanism. A convocation of tlie clergy in 1615, adopted a Con- fession of Faith drawn up by Dr. James Ussher, then Professor of Divinity in Trinity College. The new confession was as Calvinistic as the Shorter Catechism, and admitted, by implication, the validity of ordination by Presbyters. The Irish Church was now Presbyterian in theory although Episcopal in form, but no higher claim was made for its Episcopacy than mere expediency. Rejecting the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, the Established Cliurch of Ireland was now so strongly Protestant that it was joined by several Scotch Presby- terian ministers, who came to Ireland, and were recognized as clergymen.
In the early part of his reign, the " British Solomon" had expressed a great love for the Presbyterianism in which he had been educated. At a meeting of the General Assembly, in 1.590, he praised God that he was born in such a place as to be king in such a Kirk, the purest Kirk in the world. " The Ivirk of Geneva " he said " keepeth Pasch and Yule [Easter and Christmas]. What have they for them ? They have no institution. As for our neigh- bour Kirk in England, their service is an ill-mumbled mass in Eoglish. They want nothing of tlie mass but the liftings [the elev- ation of the Host] . I cliarge you, my good people, ministers, elders, nobles, gentlemen, and barons, to stand to your purity ; and I, for- sooth, as long as I brook my life and crown, shall maintain the same against all deadly."
This would have been an admirable speech from Oliver Crom- well, or from William of Orange ; but it adds to the contempt with which posterity regards James. For he was both untruthful and pedantic, ever blustering about those kingly rights which his cowardice prevented him maintaining by the sword. Unstable as water, he favoured by turns several systems of religious thought; but, at last, seems to have decided that Episcopacy was best calcu- lated to strengthen his political power. He imagined he could rule the bishops who ruled the clergy, who ruled the people. His favourite maxim became " No Bishop no King." The institution of Prelacy which served the purpose of Popes in the pa-,t would serve
32 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
the purpose of Kings in the future ; who thus might become as supreme in the Church as they were in the State.
The Scotch, however, did not submit wiUingly to his wishes in matters of Church government. Andrew Melville, at a private au- dience,took James by the sleeve, and calling him "God's Sillie Vassal." said, " There are two Kings and two kingdoms in Scotland : there^ is King James, the head of this Commonwealth, and there is Christ Jesus, the King of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member." Althougli the King seemed angry at first, he dismissed Melville w^tli fair promises.
Soon afterwards, the General Assembly, at the King's request,, rashly nominated fourteen ministers, with whom he might consult on important matters. " This," said James Melville, " was the very needle which drew in the Episcopal thread." The King then got the Assembly to sanction these commissioners having a seat in Parliament. Ferguson compared this j)^oceeding to the wooden, horse by which Troy was captured, and John Davidson said : " Busk him as bonuilie as ye can . . . We see the horns of his mitre."
Three of the ministers were afterwards nominated Bishops, and in 1610, the King, by bribery and intimidation got the Church to re- ceive the Bishops, as moderators of synods. By this means, and by a Court of High Commission to which appeals might be made in Ecclesiastical matters, he rendered the power of the State supreme over the Church.
After James had succeeded Elizabeth in 1603, as King of Eng- land, he seemed as much averse to Puritanism in the South, as he had been to Presbyterianism in the North. During a conference held at Hampton Court, to hear the complaints of Puritans, he asserted the principle of " No Bishop, no King," and declared that Presbytery " agreed as well with Monarchy as God and the Devil." Surrounded now by his beloved Bishops, in w^hat he termed "the promised land," he resolved to pursue his favourite project of forcing Episcopacy on the Scottish Presbyterians. By bribery, and by intimidation, he suc- ceeded in getting a number of the clergy met at Perth, in 1617, to agree to five points of conformity with the Enghsh Church. These are called The Five Articles of Perth. They enjoined kneeling at the communion, the observance of holidays. Episcopal confirmation, private baptism, and private communion. But this meeting at Perth was regarded as illegal, and the struggle still continued.
Both pastors and people now began to look to Ireland as a place of refuge, although the laws there against Non-conformity were annoying, and the local authorities, in some places of the North, seemed inclined to press them. The Corporation of Belfast had ar- ranged a scale of fines for parties, above the age of thirteen, who might be absent from public worshij), as by law established, on Sun- days or on holidays. The amount for a householder was five shillings ; for a married woman, two-and-six-pence ; for a servant, one shilling ; and for a child, ten ponce. But as the Irish Church "was now so similar in its principles to the Scotch, Presbyterians who
Presbyterianism witJiin the Einscojpal Church. 33
left their country, rather than submit to Episcopacy, did not hesitate to join the more evangelical Episcopal Church in Ireland.
Edward Brice, brother of the laird of Airth, and formerly minis- ter of Drymen, in Stirlingshire, was the first of these Presbyterian ministers who joined the Irish Church. Having opposed the King's plan of introducing Episcopacy, he became an object of persecution, lied to Ireland, and settled, in 1613, at Broadisland, between Larne and Carrickfergus, where he was parish minister, and enjoyed the tithes ; but he preached the doctrines, and observed the practices of the Church of Scotland.
John Kidge had been ordained in England, but not finding freedom there, came to Ireland, and w^as admitted to the vicarage of Antrim. Blair alludes to him as a "judicious and gracious minister."
Robert Cunningham had been chaplain to the Earl of Buc- cleugh's regiment in Holland. But after the troops returned, he came to Ireland, and in 1615, was admitted to the ministry by Bishop Echlin. He served for a considerable period as curate of Holywood and Craigavad, and was greatly confirmed in the faith by his intercourse with Mr. Blair.
But of all the Presbyterian ministers in tlie Irish Established Church the most celebrated was Robert Blair, a man of majestic ap- pearance, deep piet}^ great learning, and persuasive eloquence. He resigned the position of professor in Glasgow University rather than submit to the Prelacy which James was forcing on the Church. Invited by Sir James Hamilton, lately created Lord Claneboy, he ■came to Bangor in 1623, and w^as ordained one of his Lordship's vicars.
At this time, many of the rectors in the Episcopal Church were laymen. Disqualified themselves for discharging the duties of their oflQce, they employed vicars to act in their stead. Lord Claneboy obtained a large share of Con O'Neill's estates in the manner I have described. He was rector of a number of parishes, .and a Presbyterian himself, made Presbyterians his vicars. To them he gave one-third of the spritual emoluments of the parishes in which they officiated. This secured each of them about twenty pounds a year, which, it is probable, was supplemented by a few pounds yearly from the people. As Blair scrupled to be ordained by the bishop alone, Echlin, who ofiiciated, consented to come in as a mere presbyter, together with a number of clergymen, that his ordination might be Presbyterian. He and Mr. Cunuiugham of Holywood each ■celebrated the Lord's Supper four times a year, and the people •of both parishes joined in every communion. To these com- munions " professors " often came from tiie borders of Tyrone, .and other places equally distant. In the second year of Mr. Blair's ministry a plentiful crop ran the risk of being spoiled with ex- -cessive rains. But a public fast having been kept, next day there blew a mighty strong wind, which recovered the corn that had been rstanding in " stocks," or " smoking in the stacks," and famine was .averted.
James Hamilton, nephew to Lord Claneboy, had been
34 A Historij of the Irish Presbyterians.
educated for the ministry, but did not seek ordination, and ^yas now acting as agent for his uncle. Mr. Blair and Mr. Cunningham thought he had a call to the ministry, and put him to " private essays" of his gifts. Being satisfied with the trial, they got him ta preach publicly at Bangor, in hearing of his uncle and aunt, who were both well pleased at his effort. Mr. Hamilton then entered the ministry, was ordained by Echlin, and settled at Ballywalter. He was an earnest minister, and remained a faithful Presbyterian, notwithstanding strong temptations to conform to prelacy.
We have seen that many of the first settlers were ignorant and careless, having left their country *'for their country's good;" but the preaching of these Presbyterian pastors, included in the Estab- lishment, soon began to produce marvellous effects.
All over the North-East of Ulster, those who received Presby- terian principles in sincerity and in truth, were transformed into men of intelligence and of power. Instead of being as chaff, driven before the wind, they took root in the congenial soil of Ireland, and brought forth fruit abundantly, in nine generations of their descendants. They have not been exterminated by repeated rebellions of the Kelts, nor perverted by the persecution of their Prelatic landlords. They have imposed their language and their religious principles on Ulster, which is to-day a province of Scotland, inserted in Ireland.
Mr. Blair had not been long settled in Bangor, until the people began to relish the duty of prayer, and to attend more diligently to their spiritual interests. The same desire was soon manifested throughout the greater part of Antrim and of Down. The preach- ing of Mr. Glendenning produced marvellous effects at Oldstone. This minister had settled at Carrickfergus, but, by the advice of Blair, removed to Oldstone, in order to have a congregation of bis own countrymen, which would be more suitable for his talents than the English congregation of Carrickfergus. His actions seem to have sprung more from his feelings than from his judgment ; and, afterwards, he actually went " distract." He was not a man who would have been chosen by the Church to begin a reformation in the land ; yet his preaching had a marvellous effect. As he thundered forth the terrors of the law against his hearers, many became convinced, and some were converted. Stewart tells us that in one day, he saw a dozen carried out of doors as if they had been dead. A man, who came to these services to work mischief, was converted ; and, in after life, was said to be as zealous in good works as, formerly, he had been in evil works.
This revival spread over the rich valley of the Six-mile-water, which flows westward through fertile farms past Ballynure, Bally- clare, and Templepatrick, till, at last, it falls into Lough Neagh, near Antrim. It was carried on at Larue, by Mr. Dunbar, and everywhere it excited Avonder. Episcopalians — and even Ptoman Catholics — attended these meetings, and, in some instances, were savingly converted. About this time, two celebrated men of Irish birth joined the Presbyterian Church ; one was Jeremiah O'Quinn, who became a minister; the other was Owen O'Conolly, who, in 1641.
Preshyterianism witliin the Episcoiml Church. 35-
saved Dublin Castle from falling into the hands of the Eoman Catholic rebels.
Mr. Blair and his brethren, being clergymen of an Episcopal Church, could not set uj) such ecclesiastical courts as existed in Scotland. But at the suggestion of Mr. John Ridge, they established a "Meeting," which was held once a month in the Parish Church of Antrim. They assembled on the Thursday evening ; the Friday was spent in fasting, in prayer, and in preaching the Word. So desirous were the people of hearing, that " no day was long enough, nor any room great enough, to answer their strong desires and large expectations." "Then," said Livingstone, "the ministers stayed the Friday's night after, and consulted much about such things as. concerned the carrying out of the work of God." The resolutions of these "Monthly Meetings" had no legislative force, but were observed with respect by the faithful among both pastors and people.
Mr. Glendenning's feelings, at last, completely overcame his understanding. He was led to believe the most extravagant- doctrines ; and in public taught such absurdities, as that a person who turned from one side to the other in bed could not be a. Christian. One day he put his foot into the fire, asserting that it would not be burned. But Blair pulled him away before he re- ceived any injury. At last, Glendenning set off to visit the Seven Churches of Asia, and we hear of him no more.
His place at Oldstone was soon filled by Josias Welsh, son of John Welsh, and grandson of Jolm Knox. Mr. Welsh had been a professor in Glasgow. But the King's attempt to impose prelacy on the Church caused him to resign his chair and come to Ireland. After preaching a short time at Oldstone, he was ordained by Knox, Bishop of Ptaphoe, and, afterwards, became chaplain to Captain Norton, at Templepatrich.
Mr. Andrew StcAvart settled, in 1627, at Donegore, near Antrim. He was a man of education and zeal ; but his ministry was of short duration.
Mr. George Dunbar had been twice ejected in Scotland for his Preshyterianism. When moving the first time, his children were carried in creels on horseback. On receiving information that he was to leave his second charge, he turned to his wife and told her to get the creels again. Having come to Ireland, he first preached at Carrickfergus, but, ultimately, settled at Larue, where he had a. successful ministry.
After Blair, the most celebrated Presbyterian minister in the Established Church, was John Livingstone. Both his father and grandfather were clergymen, and he was descended from the fifth Lord Livingstone. He was born in 1603, and graduated in Glasgow University, where Robert Blair was one of his Pro- fessors. Becoming a preacher, his eloquence produced marvellous results. A sermon which he delivered in 1630, at the Ivirk of Shotts, is said to have been the means of converting five hundred people. On the invitation of Viscount Claneboy, he settled in Kil- linchy, and was set apart to the office of ministry, by Bishop Knox:
.'36 A History of the Irish Preshyterians.
^and other clergymen, acting as Presbyters. Mr. Livingstone was eminently successful in the work to which he devoted liimself, and was often a sufferer for conscience sake. He assisted in carrying on i,he revival of religion ; and; for that purpose, often went from Kil- tlinchy to Antrim, to attend the " meetings." On one of these .^"ourneys, he chanced to meet a young lady for whom he had already ^reat esteem. As they travelled onwards, he "conferred" with her •and the rest of the company, regarding a text on which he was to .preach the next day. He found her conversation, on the subject in question, " so judicious and spiritual " that his mind was ■" cleared," and he asked her to be his wife. To this request, after meditation and prayer, she consented.
This revival was carried on for several years. It spread through Antrim and Down, and went to the " borders" of the neighbouring 'Counties. The common people came in crowds to the public services connected with the monthly meetings. Some of the gentry helped in the work, and received blessings themselves. Among these were the Clotworthy family. Sir Hugh Clotworthy had obtained a grant of lands at Antrim, and went to reside on his estate. His eldest son. Sir John, was afterwards a distinguished member of the Long Parliament, sat in the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and became the first Lord Massareene. This family was faithful to Presbyterian principles, and exhibited great hospitality ■to the ministers who came to attend the monthly meetings.
The cause of Christ now made rapid progress. Protestantism ^was united. The Gospel %vas faithfully preached by the ministers we have named, and by many others in Ulster, who dispensed with the liturgy, and conducted their services after Presbyterian forms. 'The creed of the Church w^as orthodox, the doctrine of Apostolic Succession was neither taught in her articles nor held by her clergy. Presbyterians and Episcopalians were united in one denomination on the platform of a common theology, with the right of private .judgment on the question of church government. Sessions were established, and a strict discipline Avas maintained by these Presbyterian ministers, although, sometimes, they had trouble with *' proud youths" of aristocratic families. But the truth made progress. The standard of morality was raised in all the "planted" parts of "the province, and the people were prepared for a period of terrible trial which approached.
CHAPTER YH. THE FIEST PERSECUTION.
^^g^INO JAMES died on the 27th of March, 1625, and was
\^J^«*^ succeeded by his son Charles. The new monarch was as
'^^^^^ faithless, tyrannical, and selfish as his father ; but, while
James was a coward, Charles was brave. Yet the posses-
The First Persecution. 37
sion of one good quality, rendered him more to be feared than his predecessor. Wliile the arrogant assumptions of James excited the rage of his subjects, his cowardice caused their contempt. But the courage of Charles impelled him to draw the sword, that he might establish his Divine right to do wrong. Seltish to the core, he was perfidious from habit and from principle. He never understood the temper of the nation lie governed, or found out that they had dis- covered his true character. The Episcopal Church flattered his vanity, and supported his pretentions. He, therefore, favoured it as a useful instrument to carry out his designs. He married Henrietta, daughter of Henry lY., King of France. But the Roman Catholicism of his wife was not nearly so obnoxious to him, as the Presbyterian- ism of his subjects in Scotland.
For some time after the accession of Charles, the faithful ministers in Ireland went about their work as usual, and the cause of God prospered in the land. Two friars challenged these ministers to a public discussion. Blair and Welsh agreed to meet them, but, at the appointed time and place, the friars were nowhere to be found. Then a number of English " Separatists," whom various circumstances prove to be Baptists, began operations in the village of Antrim — just as Baptists always after a revival, try to lead to the dipping-pond those who have stronger feelings than judgment. But Presbyterians were then less likely to listen to the teaching of religious nondescripts than now. The Antrim Baptists made only two or three converts, and never attained to any power or position in the locality.
Afterwards, an English Episcopalian, named Freeman, made an attack on theCalviuistic theology, taught by Presbyterians. But at a disputation between him and Mr. Blair, in Antrim Castle, " the Lord did smite him with such confusion that he spoke nonsense." The patron, Mr. Rowley, who at flrst seemed to favour Freeman, exclaimed : " We need no more disputation. I see evidently his erroneousness and ignorance of the Scriptures." And Freeman " deserted of the people who formerly admired him, turned very solitary, and at last fell into miscliievous practices."
Almost all the English colony in Ulster sympatiiized with the views of those ministers of the Established Church who preached Calvinistic doctrine, and maintained Presbyterian worship and discipline. Archbishop Usslier, holding himself the priucii)les of this party, became their protector. He treated Blair with great kindness and respect, brought him to Drogheda on a visit, and there told him that it would break his heart if the successful min- istry of the Presbyterians in the Establishment was interrupted. Blair was so much impressed by the kindness and piety of Ussher, that he believed him to be a good man " although a Bishop."
In 1633, Laud became Archbishop of Canterbury. Under hfe leadership, a new party rapidly acquired power in the Church of England. Like the Ritualists of ©ur own time, they imagined a nation might be as well without a church, as a church without Apostolic orders ; and that Roman Catholics who preserved these
38 A History of the Irish Preshyterians.
orders were nearer the truth than Presbyterians who rejected them. Hating the pecuHar doctrines of Calvinism, they taught the Real Presence of Christ in the Communion, and most of the other dis- tinctive doctrines of Popery. In poUtics, they firmly believed in the Divine right of the King to do wrong. Their enmity towards the Puritans, within their own Church, was greater than their en- mity to the Catholics without it. They regarded the Catholic as an erring brother, but the Puritan as a stubborn schismatic, whose theology was dangerous to the Church, and whose politics were diingerous to the State.
The rulers of the Irish Church having imbibed the doctrines, adopted the policy of tlieir brethren in England. Echlin, Bishop of Down, was the first who exhibited a disposition to compel his clergy to conform to the ceremonies, as well as to subscribe to the Articles of tlie Church. He began to lay snares for the Presbyterians. He directed Blair in w^riting to preach at an Episcopal visitation, then sent him a verbal message that another was to officiate, and, after all, left him to discharge the duty in question. In his sermon, Mr. Blair stated his principles most fearlessly. He quoted Usslier in support of his opinion that Bishops and Presbyters were the same class of officers, and exhorted the Bishops to use moderately the power they possessed from human and not from Divine authority. Soon afterwards, Echlin ordered him to preach before the judges then on circuit in the North. Blair did as directed, pleased at least one of the judges, and escaped without censure, although the other judge was violent in his opposition to Non-conformity.
The revival of religion spread from Ireland to Scotland. In June, 1630, Livingstone and Blair assisted at a communion in the Kirk of Shotts. Livingstone's sermon on the ^Monday, is said to have been blest to five hundred people. Its effects attracted the attention of many, and gave enemies of the Gospel an opportunity of making complaints. Mr. John Maxwell, an Edinburgh minister '^' who was gaping for a Bishoprick," and Mr. James Law, Bishop of Glasgow, complained of the sclhsmatic conduct of the Irish ministers, and charged them with teaching that bodily pains were necessary to prove the reality of the new birth.
Echlin, Bishop of Down, now old and " timorous," displeased wdth the revival, and moved by the prevailing party in Ireland, suspended, in September 1631, Messrs. Blair, Welsh, Dunbar, and Livingstone. But Archbishop Ussher, on being informed of the matter by Blair, wrote Echlin to relax his "erroneous" censure. This order was obeyed, and the ministers returned to their work. But Maxwell hurried to London, and, through Laud, got the King to erder the Lords Justices to direct Echlin to have these Presbyterian clergymen tried as fanatical disturbers of the peace. The Bishop, knowing that he would fail to get Blair and his friends con- demned for favouring the fanaticism which they rebuked, asked them instead to promise conformity to the Episcopal ceremonies. This they refused, as such a promise was not required by either law ©r canon. But the Bishop w^as inflexible. And because they would
Tlte First Persecution. 39
not yield conformity to that from winch they were legally exempted, Messrs. Blair, Welsli, Dunbar, and Livingstone were, in May 1632, again suspended. When this sentence was made known to Ussher, he expressed his sorrow at being unable to interfere, as the order for trial had come from the King. Blair then went to London and presented a petition to Charles, in which he complained of being falsely accused. This petition was graciously received. Iq his reply, a clause was inserted by His Majesty's own hand to the effect that if the information against the brethren proved false, the informers should be punished. Unfortunately, the King's answer was addressed to Wentworth, who had been appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland. Pending his arrival, Messrs. Blair, Welsh, and Dunbar recommenced the work of ministry, but Livingstone returned to Scotland.
Thomas Wentworth, born of a wealthy family, in 1533, began his public career as a patriot. But, in 1628, acceptiug high terms ■offered by Charles, he betrayed his party, for whom he had ever afterwards the animosity of an apostate. When he arrived in Dublin, Blair presented the Iving's letter, but Wentworth refused to remove the sentence, began to upbraid the petitioner, and to revile the Church of Scotland. Blair reported this refusal to Ussher, who, with tears in eyes, declared he could render no assistance.
At this period, high rents in Scotland were driving the people to Ulster at the rate of four thousand a-year. The wave of colonization moved westwards from Antrim and Down, and south- wards from Derry. It passed over Tyrone, " The fairest and goodliest" county in the land. And, had this movement continued, the loyal population would soon have been so numerous as to fear no rebellion of the natives. But Presbyterians being then firmly .attached to their faith, were not inclined to settle in a country -Avliere they would be deprived of Gospel ordinances. The persecu- tion in Ireland soon checked immigration from Scotland, and prevented the growth of that part of the Irish population which was joined to Britain by the ties of race and religion.
In 1631, George Downham, Bishop of Derry, published a book, in which he upheld the final perseverance of the Saints. This work ;so excited the wrath of Laud that he wrote Ussher, ordering him to call in the copies circulated in Ireland. With this injunction the Arch- bishop complied, although the doctrines condemned were held by himself. On the death of Downham in 1634, John Bramhall, an Arminian and bigoted Prelatist, was appointed his successor. The -same principle guided other appointments ; so that the Church was .soon ruled by men altogether different from those who ruled her in the past.
The Lord-Deputy, Wentworth, had now become very unpopular with the Ulster landlords, on account of looking sharply into the way they had fulfilled the contracts of plantation, by which they held their estates. He now thought it better to allay their fears for ;a time until he would obtain from Parliament some necessary tsupplies. This opportunity was turned to the best account, in
40 A History of the Irish Prcshytcrians.
favour of the suspended ministers, by Lord Castlestewart, who was himself a Presbyterian. He represented to the Lord Deputy that it would be expedient to restore the deposed ministers, in order to soothe the feelings of the Northern Scots. Wentworth fell in with the suggestion, and, by his orders, Echlin, in May 1684, withdrew^ for six months, his sentence of suspension on the four clergymen.
This unexpected freedom so astonished and orerjoyed Blair, that, for three nights, sleep fled from his eyes. The first night he spent in admiration, the second in thanksgiviug, and the third in preparation of a sermon, whicli he delivered next day to a vast congregation. Mr. Welsh^'- of Templepatrick did not long enjoy his liberty, as he died on the 23rd of June, 16H4, from the effects of a cold caught during his suspension, by preaching in an open door- way to the people standing outside. Mr. Stewart of Donegore attended his funeral, and standing at the open grave said, " who knows who will be next '?" Then he went home and took leave of his Church, calling on the timber and stones to witness that he had laboured to be faithful. Next day, he felt unwell, and a month afterwards was buried himself. Before death he foretold with " many groaniugs " the troubles which were about to fall on the land. He said the bodies of thousands would lie unburied on the earth, and that in Donegore, the nettles and long grass would be in greater plenty than ever were x^eople to hear the Word of God. This prophecy was supposed to be fulfilled, a few years afterwards, when rebellion brought desolation to that part of the country.
So soon as the six months were expired, Wentworth, at the request of Bishop Bramhall, caused Echlin to renew his suspension of Blair and Dunbar. When the Bishop was about to pronounce sentence, Blair summoned him to appear before the tribunal of Christ to answer for his evil deeds. This is said to have produced such an effect on the guilty conscience of the Prelate that he died in great distress of mind, on the 17th of the next July.
Wentworth now effected such changes in the constitution of Trin- ity College, as to effectually exclude Puritans from places of power or profit in that Institution ; and he determined to make a similar change in the Church. To him it was more hateful for a clergyman to i^reach salvation by faith than to lead an immoral life, or to keep an alehouse. Nothing, in the Irish Cliurch, was so obnoxious to him as its Puritanism ; and that Puritanism he determined to extinguish. Both he and Charles considered the great object of a Church was to render men obedient to royal authority ; and, therefore, they
* Several families in Ulster claim descent from Josias Welsh, and, through him, from John Knox. Andrew Welsh, a great-grandson of the minister of Templepatrick, was, in 1733, ordained to the charge of Ardstraw. His eldest daugliter was married to the Rev. Moses Nelson^ D.D., of Eadeaion, and from them have sprung the Nelsons of Down- patrick. Another daughter of Andrew Welsh was married to Mr. Thomas Rogers of Edergole, Ballynahatty, and the Rev. Dr. Rogers of Londonderry is their great-grandson.
The First Persecution. 41
determined to exclude from its pale all who preferred to serve God rather than to obey the King.
A convocation of the Church was summoned to meet that this design might be accomplished. Bramhall ruled the upper liouse, and Wentworth himself, through Leslie and other creatures of his own, guided the proceedings of the lower house. One hundred canons were framed and adopted. By these, the tliirty-niue Articles of the English Church wore approved, and its various rites aud ceremonies adopted. Wentworth succeeded in persuading Archbishop Ussher and the members of convocation, that to approve of the English Articles w^ould not interfere with the authority of the Irish Articles. But this was a mere trick ; for, afterwards, the Government regarded the Irish articles as abolished, because they had not been formally approved by any of the canons. Thus Wentworth crushed spiritual life out of the Irish Church, rendering it no longer possible for Presbyterians and other Puritans to remain in its pale, and laying the foundation of tliat sectarianism which has divided Irish Protestants into so many hostile parties.
At this convocation, Bishop Bedell introduced the subject of instructing the Irish through their own language. But Bramhall opposed the idea because he considered the native race so barbarous as to be incapable of instruction. Notwithstanding this opposition, it was enacted that " where most of the people are Irish, the church- warden shall provide a Bible and two Common Prayer-baoks in the Irish tongue ; and w^iiere tlie minister is an Englishman, such a clerk may be chosen as shall be able to read the service in Irish."
Wentworth now exercised the power of a Dictator in the State, and of a Pope in the Church. A court of High Commission was established in Dublin, which could deal with the life and property of every individual in the kingdom ; and from which there was no appeal. He prevented Parliament passing certain " graces," which, in return for a large sum of money, the King had promised to all his Irish subjects, but chiefly to the Koman Catholics.
Doubtless some of Wentworth's plans when carried out, were beneficial to the Episcopal Church. He compelled many of the landlords to restore the Ecclesiastical property wdiich they had unlawfully appropriated. By this means he raised the income of both rectors and bishops, and he provided funds by which many of the churches, then in ruins, were repaired.
Echlin was succeeded as Bishop of Down, by Henry Leslie, a Scotchman by birth, a bigoted Episcopalian, and a willing persecu- tor. In November 1685, he deposed Livingstone, and caused Melvin, minister of Downpatrick, to pronounce on him sentence of excommunication. But both Blair aud Livingstone continued to preach the Gospel in private, at the risk of severe punishment.
It was now determined to make all clergymen conform to the new canons, and conduct worship according to the strictest Episcopal forms. At a visitation held by Leslie, in 1636, he required his clergy to sign these canons. Many consented with reluctance, and after- wards failed to carry out what they had promised. But Brice of
42 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
Broadisland or Ballycarry, Colvert of Oldstone, Cunningham of Holywood, Hamilton of Ballywalter, and Ridge of Antrim, refused to sign, although urged by the Bishop in private. Leslie now determined, by advice of Bramhall, to depose these faithful ministers.. To carry out his decision, he held a meeting of his clergy on the 10th August, 1636, in the Episcopal Church, Belfast. The Bishop in his opening sermon tried to prove that Prelates were the Church, and, therefore, those who entered the ministry without their sanction, •were only thieves and intruders, who should not expect by " their puff of preaching to blowe downe the goodly orders of our Church, as the walls of Jericho were beaten downe with sheepe's homes."' *' Good God !"said he, "is not this the sinne of Uzziah.who intruded! himselfe unto the ofiBce of the Priesthood?"
When this discourse was finished, the five brethren were called forward and challenged to a public discussion next day. They accepted the challenge, and appointed Mr. Hamilton to conduct the debate on their behalf. This discussion which excited intense interest, took place in presence of a large assembly of nobility, gentry, and clergy. Leslie was assisted by Bramhall ; bnt Hamilton was more than a match for both. Driven from point to point, Bramhall, at last, lost his temper and said, "It Avere more reason and more fit that this fellow were whipped than reasoned with."
After a long discussion, the court was adjourned till the next day. But meanwhile Leslie was persuaded by Bramhall not to carry on the controversy ; and when they re-assembled, he passed sentence of perpetual silence, within his diocese, on the accused brethren.
There were many ministers in Ulster, who, athough they signed the canons to avoid suspension, continued in the retirement of their parishes to preach a pure Gospel and to conduct public worship according to Presbyterian forms. Soon afterwards, Mr. Brice of Broadisland died, leaving two sons and two daughters. The venerable Professor Killen of Belfast is the grandson of Blanche Brioe, who was fifth in descent, from the minister of Broadisland.
Meanwhile Blair, Livingstone, Hamilton, and several others determined to emigrate with their friends and families to New England. They got a ship of 150 tons burden built at Groomsport. In this frail bark, named the Eagle's Wing, one hundred and forty Presbyterians set sail from " Loch-Fergus," on the 9th of September, 1636, ready to encounter the winds and the waves, that they might have freedom from persecution in the land of the Pilgrim Fathers. Among the emigrants were Blair, Livingstone, Hamilton, and M'Clelland. Mrs. Livingstone bravely accompanied her husband. The voyage turned out disastrous. Storms arose, and contrary winds drove them into Loch-Ryan. But again, they sailed west- ward till they were nearer America than Ireland. Then they encountered fearful storms of wind and rain from the north-west. The swellings of the sea rising higher than mountains, hid the mid-day sun. Their rudder was broken, and their sails torn. Leaks Were sprung which required them to be constantly pumping. Huge
The First Persecution. 43
^aves broke over the deck and tore up the plauks, till at last they concluded it was the Lord's Avill that they should return. Having changed their course homewards, they made good progress, and, on the 3rd of November, came to anchor in Loch Fergus.
The deposed ministers remained for only a short time in Ireland. Blair and Livingstone, hearing that warrants for their apprehension were issued, fled to Scotland. The other deposed ministers sought refuge in the same country. They were followed by many of their faithful people, who preferred to leave their homes rather than be deprived of hearing the Gospel preached. Others, who remained in Ireland, were accustomed to visit their ministers at communion seasons, to the number of five hundred at a time. And on one occasion Livingstone, who settled at Stranrier, baptized as many as twenty-eight children brought from Ireland.
At Antrim, Mr. Ridge was succeeded by Mr. James Cunningham, brotlier of Mr. Eobert Cunningham of Broadisland, and according to Dr. Campbell's manuscript, son of Mr. Robert Cunningham of Holy- wood. Mr. James Cunningham had travelled abroad with the Duke of Athol, and was one of the few men of great piety and learning then in the Irish Establishment. Through the influence of the Clot worthy family, he was settled in Antrim, where he had a successful ministry. One of his sons was killed at the siege of Derry, and another son died of grief at his brother's death.
In the Irish Episcopal Church there was now no power capable of resisting AVentworth. Supreme in the Church, he djtermined to be supreme in the State. In order to form a Plantation in Connaught he confiscated the whole province although held by j)atents from tlie crown. The proprietors were afterwards permitted to repurchase. two-thirds of their lands, while one-tliird was reserved for planting a Saxon colony in the centre of Keltic influence. Pretending that the O'Byrnes of "SVicklow held their property by a defective title, AVentworth compelled them to pay a fina of fifteen thousand pounds ; and he so terrified the nobility, that many of them surrendered their patents and paid large fines to have their lands re-granted, although at increased rents.
The Corporation of London were condemned to pay ^£'70,000 for the non-fulfilment of some conditions under which they held their estates in County Derry, and unduly raising the rents of tenants from less than one shilling to even ten shillings an acre. Their lands were now seized in the name of the Bramhall appointed receiver of their Irish revenues.
44 A History of the Irish Preshyfcrians.
CHAPTER YIII. THE CONTEST WITH THE KING.
[BJ)UT the cup of the iniquity of Laud, Went worth, and Charles was now ahuost full. Retribution swift and sure ^yas only- one step behind. The ^reat object of the King was to render himself independent of every influence by winch his power might be modified. But this could not be effected without a standing army, maintained by money voted by the representatives of the people assembled in Parliament. This the English Parliament refused to give. Then he endeavoured to raise taxes by his own authority, contrary to law and custom. Failing in the attempt, he tried a second and a third Parliament without better success. Then he agi esd to a compromise, and ratified the Petition of Right, by which he engaged to never attempt to raise money without consent of Parliament, and to never imprison any of his subjects except according to the laws of the land. The Parliament then voted a supply ; but in a few weeks, Charles broke his word, and placed some of the most distinguished patriots in prison. He now made peace with his enemies, and for eleven years ruled England without a Parliament. By means of the Star Chamber for political, and the High Commission for religious offences, the King could fine, imprison, or torture any of his subjects. For example. Dr. Alexander Leighton for publisliing a book entitled " Zion's Plea against the Prelacy," was apprehended in London, whipped at a stake, placed in a pillory, had his ears cut off, his nose slit, and his cheeks branded. Prynne and many others received similar punishment for similar crimes.
In England, Laud directed most of the King's movements. The Bishops were ordered to extirpate Dissent ; and some of them were soon able to report that there was not a single Non-conformist in their dioceses. The English Church surrendered to Laud, and followed him on his Rome -ward march without striking a blow. The Irish Church made a vain attempt to preserve her liberties, but lost her spiritual life in the struggle. There yet remained the Church of Scotland, which could neither be flattered nor frightened ; which, although loyal to the crown amidst x^ersecution, was not I)repared to give up a single doctrine, or to adopt a single ceremony, at the bidding of a Iving wliom she loved, or a Bishop whom she hated. The evil genius of Charles now tempted him to provoke a contest •>^ath this Church. Led by Laud to his destruction, he determined to compel her to accept of Episcopacy. And Episcopacy, obnoxious in itself, was to be introduced by imposing a liturgy — the most objectionable way in which the change could be made — as whatever strikes the senses produces a much stronger effect, than what appeals to the understanding.
The Contest with the King. 45
When this Hturgy was preparing, Charles introduced with his own hand deviations from the Enghsh prayer-book in the direction of Romanism. By virtue of the royal supremacy alone, the Church was ordered to receive a book of canons, by which the liturgy was made compulsory, absolution encouraged, and the Lord's Supper to be received kneeling.
On the 28rd of July, 1637, the liturgy was used for the first time in Edinburgh Cathedral. The vast crowd assembled were in a terrible state of excitement when the Dean proceeded to read the service. A young man ventured to cry "Amen;" but a woman struck him on the face. AVhen the collect for the day was aunounced, another woman, named Janet Gcddes, shouted out " The deil colick the wame of thee, thou false thief ; dost thou say mass at my lug, villain !" and she hurled the stool on which she had been sitting, at the Dean's head. The other women ran and assisted to tear the surplice off his shoulders. A tumult now arose, and the riot soon became a Revolutiou. The nation sprang to arms. The National Covenant was renewed at Edinburgh, and before many months was subscribed by multitudes throughout the nation.
Charles, to conciliate the Church wliich he had failed to coerce, called, ni 1638, " a free General Assembly," which met in Glasgow Cathedral, and sat from the 21st of November till the 20th of December. It was attended by 140 ministers, chosen by their Presbyteries, and by 98 ruling Elders. Many of these Elders were gentlemen of the highest rank, who came with their retainers fully armed. Among the ministers were Blair, Livingstone, M'Clelland, and Hamilton ; while Sir Robert Adair of Ballymena was among the Elders. When the Assembly proceeded to censure the Bishops, the Marquis of Hamilton, his Majesty's commissioner, dissolved it in the name of the King, as head of the Church. But, since there was no law which gave the Sovereign this power, the Assembly proceeded with their business. They abolislied Prelacy, condemned the liturgy, deposed the Bishops, and restored Presbyterian Church- government. In his closing address, the Moderator, Alexander Hamilton said, " We have now cast down the walls of Jericho. Let him that re-buildeth them beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite."
Charles regarded the proceedings of this Assembly as acts of rebellion, and advanced northwards with his army, prepared to fight rather than permit the Scots to worship God without bishops. But the Scots were x^repared to tight rather than have them. They assembled an army which they placed under command of General Leslie, who had studied war with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. Charles, fearing to attack the Presbyterians, promised to give almost everything they demanded, thus hoping to gain time in which he might raise supplies. But, failing to abide by his promis3S, the war broke out once more, the Scots were vic- torious at Newburn-upon-Tyne, and Charles, unable to maintain his armies without supplies, was constrained to call another Parliament. The Presbyterians, therefore, saved the liberties of
46 A Historij of the Irish Presbyter ians.
the nation, and as Grattan admits, became the " Father of the Constitution ;" for the new Parhament sat till it made the political liberties of the country secure.
The Irish Presbyterians, strongly opposed to the forms of Prelacy, sympathized with their brethren in Scotland; and even the clergy of the Established Church failed to carry out the provisions of the canons they bad signed. Bishop Leslie complains that they cut down the liturgy to the lessons and a few collects ; and that, •while these were reading, the ]3eople walked about m the church- yards, and then came rushing in to hear the sermon.
Wentworth now became alarmed. At the suggestion of Charles, he determined in 1639, to compel all the Ulster Scots above sixteen years of age, to swear that they would obey all the King's " royal commands." This declaration was knowni as the Black Oath. Commissions Avere issued to the northern magistrates to administer it in their districts. It was to be publicly read to the people, who were to take it on their knees. Scots who professed to be Roman Catholics, were exempted. But troops, sent to compel Presbyterians to swear, executed their orders with ruthless severity. Even Lord Claneboy deserted the principles of his youth, and became a persecutor himself. The Ulster Scots, horrified at the idea of declaring they would obey commands, which were certain to be contrary to tlie laws of God, and injurious to the liberties of the country, refused obedience at the risk of being committed to prison. Many w^ere seized and brought to Dublin, where some were kept for years in confinement. A man named Henry Stewart was lined in five thousand pounds, his wife in the same amount, and his daughters and servant in two thousand pounds each. Unable to pay the fines, they were committed to prison. Many thousands of Presbyterians now fled to Scotland, and although they then felt banishment grevious, they afterwards blessed God for permitting them to be driven out of a country where they might have after- wards perished in the great rebellion.
Wentworth was now created Earl of Strafford, and raised from beingLord Deputy to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In order to assist the King in hisw^ar with Scotland, he collected an army of 9,000 men, chiefly Romanists, which he stationed at Carrickfergus. His great object w^as, by a military force, to aid Charles in carrying a scheme he called the " thorough ;" which in reality w^as the establishing of an Absolute Monarchy. Finding that a large proportion of the Ulster Scots were prepared to give uj) their lives, rather than take the obnoxious oath, and that those who sw^ore could not be depended upon, he formed the design of removing them all out of the country. But events in England now demanded his presence, and he left Ireland never to return.
Charles, having failed in his plans of raising money to carry on war with the Scots, summoned another English Parliament, which met on the 3rd of November, 1640, and is known as the Long Parliament. It abolished the courts of Star Chamber and of High Commission, and released those imprisoned for Non -conformity.
The Irish Behellion. 47'
Strafford and Laud were arrested, and both paid the penalty of: death for then- numerous crimes. The Irish Presbyterians, through Sir John Clot\Yorthy of Antrim, member for tlie Enghsh borough of Maiden, petitioned this Parliament for redress of their many grievances. They recounted the persecutions they had endured, they complained that their " learned and conscionable " ministers. had been banished, and the care of their souls committed to. illiterate hirelings, who received only five or ten pounds a-year ; that, the rectors, through connivance of their bishops, were non-resident,, and the people perished for want of spiritual food ; and that all this time masses were publicly celebrated " to the great grief of God's, people, and increase of idolatry and superstition." They prayed Parliament to redress their grievances, and especially to restore their- banished ministers.
CHAPTER IX.
THE IRISH REBELLION.
IHE government of Ireland was now committed to Sir John. 'M>J Parsons and Sir John Borlase, both Puritans. Under their sit* guidance, the Parliament abolished the Court of High Com- mission, and religious liberty was practically re-established. Roman Catholics and Non -conformists became members of Parliament, judges, and magistrates. The exiled Presbyterians, began to return, and it seemed as if peace and prosperity were about to reign m Ireland. Yet this was the dawn of the darkest day in the history of our country.
Certain descendants of the Northern Chieftains whose estates had been confiscated at the beginning of the century, and others who had themselves gone away when very young, lived now at the courts of Rome and Madrid. These exiles, thinking the English were fully occupied with their own disputes, formed a plan with their friends in Ireland for expelling the settlers of Saxon race, and overthrowing Protestantism in the country. When this plot was almost ripe for execution, Charles, thinking he had gained Scotland by lately made concessions, and probably not knowmg of the conspiracy, opened a correspondence with some Irish Roman Catholic leaders.. He x^romised them many civil and religious advantages, including a legal establishment of the Roman Catholic faith in Ireland, if they would take up arms on his behalf, and disarm all Irish Protestants except the Ulster Scots, whom the King imagined he could unite with their kinsmen in Scotland. Reilly asserts that the scheme- originated with Charles, who sent his instructions to Ormond and Antrim. But the leaders of the old Irish hearing of this design,.
48 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
determined to begin the rebellion at once, to anticipate the Anglo- Norman families who were gained by Charles, and to rob and murder for their own advantage rather than for tlie advantage of the King. They determined to seize as many fortified places as possible, especially Dublin Castle, wliere there was a large store of •arms. These designs w^ere frustrated by a follower of the Clotworthy family, named Owen O'Connolly, a native Irishman who had turned Protestant, and become an elder in the Presbyterian Church. O'Connolly having obtained information concerning the plot from his foster brother, Hugh Oge MacMahon, came late in the ■evening of the 22nd of October, to the Lord Justice Parsows, wdiom he informed of the iDrojected insurrection. The council were summoned, and means taken to defend the town and castle. Next day the Rebellion broke out all over Ulster. The native Irish, who bated work, and who also loved plunder more than they feared danger, sprang to arms on the first summons of their leaders. Charlemont was surprised by Sir Phelim O'Neill, who told Lord Caulfield that he had authority for what he was doing, probably referring to the King's commission. Almost everywhere throughout Ulster, the castles were taken ; but Derry, Enniskillen, Belfast, Carrickfergus, and Coleraine were saved.
At first, the rebels acted with comj^arative moderation. They contented themselves with robbing the Protestants, stripping them naked, and sending them off defenceless. But they soon abandoned this moderation, and aimed at murdering the native Protestant population. Neither woman nor infant was spared. The brains of the children were dashed out before the eyes of their mothers, some were thrown into pots of boiling water ; and some were given to pigs that they might be eaten. A Protestant clergyman was actually crucified. Many had their hands cut off or their eyes put out before their lives were taken. Others were promised protection on condition of their becoming the executioners of their own nearest and dearest relations ; but if they accepted these terms, they were afterwards murdered themselves. Many were premised their lives on condition of conforming to Popery, but any wdio recanted were told that, being now in the true Churcli, they must be killed at once lest they might afterwards fall from the faith. Various calculations have been made of the number who perished, but it cannot be much under forty thousand.
As a body, the Presbyterians suffered less than other Protestants. Their leading ministers had been driven out of the country. Many of the people had followed. The few months of liberty which intervened between the execution of Strafford and the beginning of the rebellion, were not sufficient to enable many to return. The bishops who had banished both pastors and people to Scotland, saved them from destruction.
At first, the King's orders were obeyed, and the Scots suffered no injury. Many of them then succeeded in escaping ; but some I)erished by being too confident. Mr. R. Stewart, of the Irry, near Stewartstown, whose wife was grand-daughter of the Earl of
The Irish Bebellion, 49-
Tyrone, had armed 600 Scots. Assured, however, by his Irish relatives, that none of his people would be injured, he disbanded his forces. But the very night these men reached their homes, most of them were murdered. Many Protestants fled for safety to the woods, where some perished of hardships, and others were devoured by wolves. At Oldstone, near Antrim, " about twenty women, with children upon their backs and in their hands, were knocked down and murdered under the castle wall ; and about three -score old men, women, and children, who had licence to go unto Larne or Car- rickfergus, were that day or next, murdered by the O'Hara's party, wathin a mile-and-a-half of the said castle." By way of revenge, a number of Protestants, accompanied by a few soldiers from Carrickfergus, killed about thirty Roman Catholics in Islandmagee. This lamentable occurrence has been magnified by Irish writers, until some have asserted that 3,000 natives were driven into the sea from the top of the Gobbins I
On the 15th of November, Sir Phelim O'Neill, obtained possession of Lurgan by capitulation ; but. on the 28th of the same month, he was repulsed from Lisburn. In December, he captured Strabane, which was defended b}' the widow of Lord Strabane. He fell in love with his fair captive, and married her soon afterwards. Augher, Castlederg, Omagh, and Newtownstewart were saved from the eneni}'. An arrangement for tlie protection of the Irish Protestants was now made between the English and the Scottish parliaments. A Scotch army of 10.000 was to be sent for the relief of Ireland, and as Ireland was a dependency of England, the English Parliament was to provide for their support.
A detachment of these forces, under General Robert Monro, arrived in April, 1642, and, at once, marched against the enemy, whom they defeated on their way to Newry. Having captured this town, they put the garrison to the sword. Some of the soldiers, without authority, took a number of Irish women, threw them into the river, and shot them while in the water. These soldiers were, however, punished for this cruel retribution of a cruel massacre. Monro now marched against O'Neill, who occupied Armagh ; but before he could arrive, the Irish general burnt the town, murdered the Protestants, and retired to Charlemont. Sir John Clotworthy built a number of boats, by means of which he captured the vessels of the enemy on Lough Neagh. His forces put the Irish to flight near Money more, and saved the lives of about 120 Protestant prisoners who were about to be murdered. In the north-east. Sir William and Sir Robert Stewart defeated the enemy on several occasions and Strabane was re-taken. These vigorous proceedings restored comparative security to the greater part of Ulster.
About this time, Mr. John Deans, of Carrickfergus, contracted to supply Monro's army with butter at fourpence-halfpenny a pound, beef at one shilling and twopence for every eight j)0unds, and bread at three halfpence a pound.
•■50 A History of the Irish Preshyterians.
CHAPTEK X. . ORGANIZATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
IpI^IHE Scottish forces were accompanied by tlieir chaplains. V^}f a;/ Many of their officers were elders. The Episcopal clergy (^jtk had been generally driven ont of the country, and their
people preferred the simple rites of Presbyterian ^yorship. "When four sessions had been organized in the army, it was de- termined to form a presbytery.
On the lOtli of June, 1642, the first regular Presbytery of the ■Church in Ireland was constituted at Carrickfergus. It consisted of five ministers and four ruling elders. The ministers were Mr. Hugh ■Cunningham, who, about 1646, was installed at Ray, Co. Donegal ; Mr. Thomas Peebles, who, in 1645, became minister of Dundonald and Holy wood ; and Mr. John Baird, who, in 1646, was installed in the Route ; also, Mr. John Scott and Mr. John Aird, who returned to Scotland. Mr. Baird preached from the words, " Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion ; build thou the walls of Jerusalem." Mr. Peebles was appointed clerk, which position he held unto his death nearly thirty years afterwards. Mr. James Simpson and Mr. John Livingstone, although in Ireland, were prevented by distance from being present.
When it was known that this court had been established, appli- 'Cations began to be received from many districts for preaching of the Gospel. Sessions were erected in Antrim, Ballymena, Bally- walter, Bangor, Belfast, Cairncastle, Carrickfergus, Comber, Holy- wood, Donaghadee, Newtownards, and other localities, where it was determined to place pastors as soon as possible.
Bangor and Bsllywalter petitioned the Church of Scotland to restore Messrs. Blair and Hamilton, their former ministers. A general petition from Presbyterians in Down and Antrim was pre- sented to the same Assembly, requesting the restoration of those pastors whom "persecution of the prelates" had driven out of the country, and asking them to " superadd" other able men to lay "the foundation of God's house according to the pattern."
As the supply of ministers in Scotland was then limited, on account of previous persecution, the Assembly could not send any to settle permanently in Ireland ; but they ordered Messrs. BJair, Hamilton, Ramsay, M'Clelland, Bailie, and Livingstone— six of their most popular preachers — to go there for a limited time.
Mr. Livingstone states — " The ministers who went, used for most part to separate themselves to divers parishes in several parts of the country ; there being such a great number of vacant parishes, yet so as the one would also visit the place where the other Imd been. By this appointment I was sent over three months in Summer 1643, and as long in Summer 1645 ; and in Summer 1646 and in 1648 I
Organization of the Presbyterian Church. 51
T^-ent thither. For the most part of all these three months I preached every day once, and twice on the Sabbath ; the destitute parishes were many ; the hunger of the people was become great ; and the Lord was pleased to furnish otherwise than usually I wont to get at home. I came ordinarily the night before to the place where I was to preach, and commonly lodged in some religious person's house, where we were often well refreshed at family exercise. Usually I desired no more before I went to bed, but to make sure the place of Scripture I was to preach on the next day. And rising in the morning, I had four or five hours myself alone, either in a chamber or in the fields ; after that we went to church, and then dined, and then rode some five or six miles more or less to another parish. Sometimes there would be four or five communions in several places in the three months' time. I esteemed these visits in Ireland the far best time of all the while I was in Galloway."
The Irish Church was now rapidly reorganized by these deputies from Scotland. Discipline was introduced. Those who had taken the Black Oath, who had conformed to Prelacy, or who led immoral lives, were not received into communion till they had publicly professed their repentance. But breaches of the Seventh Commandment were punished with special severity. For example, we read in the old Session Book of Templepatrick, that on the 17th of April, 1648, " Joyce Baylie and Oina O'donnally were ordered to stand before the congregation in white sheets and make public con- fession of their sins." In some respects, the session then supplied the place of a court of justice. It punished parties for beating their wives •' on the Lord's day," cheating their neighbours, or being engaged in "unlawful expeditions," as well as for any of the other sins I have mentioned.
A few Episcopal ministers had remained in the country, and were conducting public worship according to the forms of the Prayer Book. The Presbytery, in an address, warned their people not to hear these teachers, or show any approbation of Prelatic worship. Some of the ministers in question havmg professed repentance for taking the Black Oath, submitting to Prelacy, marrying ^\dth a ring, or using superstitious rites in the Sacraments, w^ere received into membership. Tw^o Baptist preachers now appeared at Antrim, where a few of their sect still lingered ; but Mr. Blair visited that locality to oppose them, and their principles made no progress.
Meanwhile the King had come to an open rupture with his Parliament. In August, 1642, the royal standard was erected at Nottingham ; and niany followed their monarch to fight for the institutions by which they were themselves oppressed. At first, success seemed about to smile on the cause of Charles ; but after a time, all was changed. Oliver Cromwell arose to power. The army was remodelled. Eespectable God-fearing men, who hated Popery and Prelacy as strongly as they loved trutli, became soldiers, and received pay sufficient to provide, without plunder, the necessaries of life. With this army, the tide of war was soon rolled backwards. The forces of Charles were defeated in several
52 A Historij of the Irish Presbyterians.
bloody battles, and the authority of Parliament became supreme.
A correspondence had been opened between the Scotch Assembly and the English Parliament regarding a uniformity of religion between the nations. As a result, an Assembly of Divines met at Westminster, who compiled the Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, and the Directory for Public Worship. This Assembly commenced their sittings on the 1st of July, 1643, although forbidden to meet by a proclamation of Charles. They were to consist of one hundred and twenty divines, with ten lords, and twenty commoners as lay-assessors, and seven commissioners from the Scots. Among the lay-assessors was Sir John Clotworthy of Antrim, who represented Maiden in the Long Parliament, As almost all the members were English Puritans, it is incorrect to regard the Confession and Catechisms prepared by this Assembly as Scotch in their origin.
In the same year, as a result of negotiations carried on between the English Parliament, the Scottish Convention of Estates, and the General Assembly, a religious bond called The Solemn League And Covenant was drawn up by Henderson, and, with a few alterations, adopted by these bodies. Those who signed this document pledged themsslves to maintain the Reformed religion, to extirpate Popery and Prelacy, to preserve the liberties of the kingdom, and to lead holy lives personally.
This solemn bond was accepted by the General Assembly, by the Convention of Estates in Scotland, and by the English Parliament. On tlie 25th of September, in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, the Assembly of Divines, the Scottish Commissioners, and the members of the Common'', with uncovered heads and uplifted hands, swore to its provisions. A few weeks afterwards it was taken by the Lords, and an order was issued that it should be administered to every person in England above eighteen years of age. A similar course w^as pursued in Scotland. The Covenant was solemnly received by commissioners representing the Church, the State, and the kingdom of England. It was sent to the moderators of the presbyteries, and its provisions were to be sub- scribed by " all of understanding " throughout the country.
On the 4th of November, 1643, Owen 0' Connolly was sent by Parliament to the commanders in Ulster, to make preparations for administering the Covenant in Ireland. For this purpose, the Rev. James Hamilton, and three other clergymen came over next spring. On the 1st of April, 1644, they presented their commissions to the Presbytery, and soon afterwards began the work of receiving signatures. The regiments took the covenant from their own chaplains, or if they had none, from the Scottish commissioners. Major Dalzell, who was afterwards noted as a great persecutor, was the only person connected with the army who refused to swear. Then came in crowds the people near Mie places where the regiments "were stationed. They all joined willingly, except a few Episcopal ministers and some "profane and ungodly persons ; so that there were more of the country become swearers than were men in the
Organization of the Prcshi/tcrian Church. 53
army." Those who had taken the Black Oath were compelled to renoimce it pubhcly before being admitted to tlie Covenant.
The commissioners appointed went from town to town to preach and explain the provisions of the document they carried. Having administered it in several places in Antrim and Down where troops were stationed, they set out tor the extreme North. " From Ballymena they went with a guard of horse toward Coleraine, under one William Hume, of General Leslie's regiment. They went the next day (being Thursday) to the church, and few being present except the soldiers of the garrison, they explained the Covenant to them, and left it to their serious thoughts till the next Sabbath, being also Easter day. On this Lord's day the convention was very great from town and country. They expounded more fully the Covenant, and, among other things, told the people that their miseries had come from tliose sorts of people who were there sworn against, and specially from the Papists. The righteous hand of (rod had afflicted them for going so near the Papists in their former Avorship and government in the Church ; and, whereas, the episcopal party endeavoured peaceableness with the Papists, by symbolizing with them in much of their superstition ; the Sovereign, Holy Lord had turned tlieir policy to the contrary effect, for their conformity with idolaters — going on in a course which had a tendency at least that way."
In this manner was the Covenant taken by the people through- out the greater part of Ulster. The commissioners rode along accompanied by an escort of cavalry to protect them from parties of the enemy roaming about. But their progress was slow on account of the badness of the roads, which went straight through deep bogs and over hills so steep that it was difficult to ride eithoi up or down; while in the valleys between them the horses sank deep, and even the higher mountain roads were often a continual morass, as there were but few bridges, most of the rivers had to be crossed by fords, often impassable after rain.
But, notwithstanding all impediments, the commissioners proceeded diligently with their work. From Coleraine they went toDerry, and fromDerry tothe Presbyterian parts of County Donegal. They ventured even as far as Enuiskillen without meeting any armed baud of rebels. In some places the Papists fled at their approach, having a superstitious fear of their power, and imagining that it was by the sword Covenanters were determined t-o " extirpate" Popery.
In Ulster, the Covenant w^as taken by about 16,000 i)ersons besides the army. It was given only to those "wdiose consciences stirred them up." But if we suppose it was taken by one-half of the adults it would indicate that there was still a Protestant population of 70,000 in that province after all who had perished in the rebellion. " The Solemn League and Covenant
Cost Scotland blood — cost Scotland tears ; But it sealed freedom's sacred cause — If thou'rt a slave, indulge thy sneers."
54 A History of the Irish Frcshyterians.
For some time tlie work of settling ministers in congregations proceeded but slowly. In 1642, Mr. John Drysdale was ordained in. Portaferry, and Mr. James Baty in Ballyalter. Three years afterwards Mr. David Buttle was ordained in Ballymena, and Mr. Archibald Ferguson in Antrim ; but from that time the work of settlement proceeded with great rapidity. In 1647, upwards of twenty congregations had permanent pastors, and several others had sessions and occasional supplies of preachers. Year by year a number of ministers came over from Scotland in the way described, and visited almost every district where Presbyterian settlers were without pastors. But, notwithstanding the spiritual destitution which prevailed, the church did not sanction laymen attempting to preach, unless they were " expectants " of the office of the ministry. A complaint having been made to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in 1640, against Messrs. Livingstone and Butherford for encouraging private gatherings for prayer, the practice of several families uniting together for worship was condemned, and a strict law laid down that none should even explain the Scriptures in public except ministers or " expectants " approved by tiie Presbytery.
CHAPTEPt XL CIVIL AVAR IN IRELAND.
r-l-lHE power of the Irish rebels had been almost overthrown by Vl^'' ^^^ victories of Monro, when, in 1642, the celebrated Owen (3^^ Roe O'Neill-'' arrived in Ireland. He was great-graudson of Matthew O'Neill, Baron of Dungannon, and had been dis- tinguished in the Spanish and Imperial services. Placed in command of the rebels, he determined to conduct the contest according to the rules of civilized warfare, and to punish all concerned in murder. A General Assembly of the confederate Catholics, lay and clerical, met at Kilkenny, on the 24th of October, arranged for carrying on the war, and performed the functions of a Parliament. They handed over the endowments of the Episcopal Church to the Church of Rome. But, ere long, they began to negotiate with the King through the Marquis of Ormond, the Protestant head of the great Anglo-Norman family of Butler. Charles concluded these negotiations through the Earl of Glamorgan ; and having conceded almost everything demanded by the confederate Roman Catholics,
* Owen Roe O'Neill wo-s a lefiitimatc son of the Earl of Tyrone's nephew, and not a natural son of his brother, as stated by some of our historians.
a oil War ui Ireland. 55'.
received from tliem in return the promise of troops to assist him against his English subjects.
In October, 1643, tlieEarl of Antrim escaped from Carrickfergus Castle, where he had been imprisoned by Monro, and made Jjis way to the King at Oxf jrd. H3 promised to send 2,000 Irish troops to assist the royalist chieftains iu the Highlands, who, through jealousy of Argyle, rather than through love of Charles, were ripe for rebellion agaiubt the aithority of the Parliament.
The first party of Ant.-i n's Iiish, under Alastcr MacDon- nell (sometimes called •' C jll-Kittag'a," or left-handed Coll, after his father), passed over to Scotland protected b}^ a frigate. They captured, on the 2nd of July- 1644, Messrs. Weir and Hamilton, who were returning to Scotland. These gentlemen were kept a long time in prison, and endured such hardships that Mr. Weir died. Mr. Hamilton was at last exchanged, and had a successful ministry at Dumfries, and at Edinburgli. His son wa-> successively minister of Benburb, Armagh, and Kdlinchy.
The Marquis of Montrose, at the head of the Highland Royalists and their Irisli allies nosv took the held, and gained many victories. Having captured Aberdeen, his Irish forces were tliere distinguished for their gi-eat cruelty. They compelled those whom they killed to strip previously, lest their clothes, spoiled in the act of murder, might be rendered less serviceable to the murderers. " The wyf durst not cry nor weep at her husband's slauchter befoir her eyes, nor the mother for the son, nor the dochter for the father; which, if they war heard, then war they presenth' slayue also." Formerly when acting for the Covenanters, Montrose oppressed Aberdeen because it inclined to the Royal cause, now he murdered its inhabitants because they supported the very principles he had formerly punished them for opposing.
But the overthrow of Charles at Xaseby, in 1645, enabled the regular Scotch army under Leslie to return. Montrose was completely defeated at Pliihphaugh, and fled from the kingdom. Afterwards he returned, was captured, and on the 21st of May 1650, executed. This is the demon to whose memory the degenerate Scotch iiave erected a monument in St. Giles's Cathedral.
The war in Scotland drove many to Ulster, and was rather an advantage to the Presbyterians in Ireland. The Parliament, now completely victorious over Ciiarles. sent three commissioners to Ulster, lest the Presbyterians might be induced to join Ormond and the King in opposition to the Sectaries, now rising into power. These commissioners acknowledged the acts of the Presbytery, ordered the Covenant to be tendered at places where it had not been received previously, and " they also did give a right of tithe of l)arishes to as many of the new entrants as did apply to them."
In 1646, the confederate Catholics concluded a treaty with King
* Hamilton M.S., p. 78. Reid states erroneously that they were captured on the 3rd of July, and he is mistaken in thinking Alaster ^lacDonnell was the "noted CoU-Kittagh."
56 A Histovf/ of the Irish Presbyterians.
Charles, to which the Papal Nuncio was strongly opposed. In this opposition he was supported by Owen Roe O'Neill, who, afterwards, got so many of his own creatures returned to the Assembly that he was able to control its actions.
O'Neill, with about live thousand foot and five hundred horse, now made a descent on Ulster. General Monro, with an army fully as numerous, took the field to oppose him, and marched to Hamilton's Bawn. Colonel George Monro, son-in-law of the General, at the head of a detachment, was coming from Colcraine to join the main body ; while O'Neill, stationed at Benburb, was between these two divisions of the Protestant army. Fearing lest Colonel Monro might be overwhelmed by the enemy on his march. General Monro, on the morniug of the 5th June, 1646, advanced from Hamilton's Bawn to Benburb, with the intention of crossing the river to attack O'Neill. But the old castle, with its four towers, stood in majestic grandeur on a cliff 100 feet high, which over- hung its base, above the Blackwater, at the very spot where a ford rendered the passage possible. Monro, having viewed the position from a ridge of rugged hills just opposite to the castle, abandoned his intention of crossing there, and marched along the Armagh bank of the river, eight miles to Caledon. Even now there is but a narrow path which leads in the direction the Scots marched. They had, therefore, to toil over numerous rocky bramble-covered hills, and through the bogs which lay between them, dragging their cannons with immense labour. Then, having crossed at Caledon, they left their baggage there witli a guard of 1,500 men, and marched back towards Benburb, along the Tyrone side of the river — over hills and through the fearful quagmires which then existed on the left bank of the Blackwater, from Knocknacloy to Tullygivin. They drove before them a party of Irish, under O'Ferral, who tried to obstruct their progress. Late in the evening, after a march of more than twenty-five miles, ready to faint with fatigue, they came in front of O'Neill, who occupied an advantageous position at Drumflugh, near Benburb, with the Blackwater on the left. The Irish army was placed on a range of hills, with valleys between them. O'Neill then addressed his men, telling them to behold the enemies of God and of their souls, exhortiug them to fight valiantly against those who had deprived them of their chiefs and their children, who sought for their spiritual and temporal lives, wdio had taken their lands, and rendered them wandering fugitives. =■=
Monro opened fire with his cannons, and the enemy replied. At first, the Scots made some progress, but, being soon checked, they began to lose ground. O'Neill then advanced to the attack, and Monro ordered his cavalry to charge. But these were only Irish under English officers, and they retreated disorderly through the foot, making room for the enemy's horse to follow. Then another squadron of cavalry was hurled against the Irish ; but they, being hard pressed, got mixed up with the foot, and all fell into disorder.
• O'Mellon's M.S. History.
Civil War in Ireland. 57
O'Neill now charged with his pike-men, aud the Protestant ranks gave way. At tins critical moment a detachment of Irish cavalry approached from the North, returning from Dnngannon, wliere they had engaged Colonel George Monro w^th donbtful success. This reinforcement enabled O'Neill to turn General Monro's left ; while the charge of his pike-men had divided the Scottish army in two. One part was driven down the gently sloping hill from Derrycreevy and Carrowbeg to where the Battleford Bridge now crosses the Blackwater. Thistle Hill, steep and impassable was before them, the Irish behind, and on their right, while, to their left, was the river, dark and deep, even in the midst of summer. Into this river the fugitives — horse and foot— were driven in one surging mass. The waters rose high above those struggling in the stream for life. Yet the Scots pressed madly onwards, rushing in on the top of the dead and dying, in a vain effort to escape. It was, at last, possible to cross the river ou the bodies of the dead ; yet very few^ succeeded in getting over. Those behind were slain by the enemy, and it is admitted by O'Mellon that even the wounded were butchered as they lay on the field of battle.
The second aud smaller division of Monro's army endeavoured to retreat backward to Caledon. But it is stated that many of them were drowned in Knocknacloy Lougli. Tliis is exceedingly probable as a marsh between the lough aud the river was then impassable, aud the cavalry who came from Dungannon would prevent the Scots retreating in the direction of Brantry, on the other side of the lougli. Caught as in a net, most of the fugitives must have [)erished.
I am particular in giving these details because many accounts of this engagement are contradictory, each of the other, nnd are inconsistent with local traditions and the positive assertion of O'Mellon that the battle began at Drumtlugh. Besides, the state- ment made by Carte, and all tlie historians who follow Carte, that O'Neill had the Blackwater ou his rir/Jit, is untrue; as, in that case, he would have drawn up his men witli their backs to the advancing Scots. Immense numbers of leaden bullets have been found in the very spot where I am certain the battle took place. There also, graves can still be pointed out ; while no relic of the engagement has been found on the banks of the Oona, where some imagine it was fought. -•■
More than 3,000 of Monro's troops lay slain on tlie field of battle. The General himself, without cither hat or wig, escaped with difficult}-, and Sir James Montgomery's regiment alone retreated in order ; but Lord Montgomery of Ards was taken jn-isoner. O'Neill had only 70 killed aiifl 200 wounded. He captured 1,500 horses and two months' provisions for the Scottish army. Having proceeded to Tandragee, which he was about to attack, the Nuncio summoned him south to counteract the influence of the
* Dr. Collier's statement that O'Neill won this battle in Co. Armagh is still more incorrect, as Benburb is in Tyrone, and Monro left Armagh when he crossed the river at Caledon.
58 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
party svho had made peace with tlie King. O'Neill obeyed, and, marching to Kilkenny, threw away all the fruits of tlie greatest victory which ever the Irish g lined over their Saxon masters.
The Presbytery were grieved at this sudden calamity; but it did not interfere with their labours in spreading the Gospel ; and several congregations now obtained x^astors. On the 7th of May, 1646, Mr. Patrick Adair was ordained minister of Cairncastle, near Larne, and, for a lengthened period, occupied a distinguished position among his brethren in the church. Mr. Thomas Kennedy was, in the same year, ordained at Donaghmore, two miles from Dungannon. Mr. Kennedy was elder brother of Mr. Gilbert Kennedy of Dnndonald, and nephew of John, sixtl] earl of Cassalis, one of the lay-assessors of the Westminster Assembly. About the same time, Mr. Anthony Shaw w^as settled in Belfast, Mr. Thomas Hall in Larno, and Mr. Robert Cunningham in Broadisland. The work of supplying vacant congregations went on with rapidity. Presbyterians in great numbers now came from Saotland ; and Ulster seemed about to enter on a new career of prosperity.
The Marquis of Ormond still held Dublin for King Cliarles. But, despairing of being able to gain the Scots, or to rule the Kilkenny Confederates, he agreed to surrender the city to Commis- sioners of the Phiglish Parliament. Tliese Commissioners reached Dublin in June 1647 ; and one of their first acts waste substitute the Directory for the Prayer Book, as Prelacy had been previously abolished in England. But, as a body, they favoured the Inde- pendents, and were hostile to the Scotch influence in Ireland. On the 16th of Julv, the English regiments in Ulster, which were hitherto under Monro, were placed by Parliament under Colonel George Monk, one of the most renowned timeservers mentioned in history. jMonro stUl kept the Scotch forces together ; but next year he w^as surprised in Carrickfcrgus by Monk, and sent a prisoner to England.
The majority of the Long Parliament were Puritans, who desired to reform the Church on the basis of Presbyterianism. But several sects of enthusiasts had of late sprung up in England. Of these the most powerful were the Independents, who held that every congregation Avas a self-governing community, owning no subjection to either bishop or presbytery. Their chief leader was Oliver Cromwell, and they were as pow^erful in the army as Presbyterians in the Parliament. In political matters they aimed at a " root and branch " reformation, desiring to establish a commonw^ealth on the ruins of monarchy, while the Presbyterians desired to merely limit the King's power.
The Independents failed to prevent Parliament resolving to establish Presbyterianism as the National religion of England, but they succeeded in preventing that resolution from being carried into effect, and the Presbyterian system was not established anywhere excex)t in Middlesex and Lancashire. Without organization it had no chance of surviving at the Restoration.
Meanwhile Charles tried to negotiate with both parties, at the
Civil War in Ireland. 59
same time, in order to extirpate " the one and the other." But failing in these attempts, he surrendered liimself to the Scottish army before Newark. The Scots liaving received payment for their services in England, gave up the King to commissioners of the English Parliament, lest it might be thought a breach of faith to bring him to Scotland. In Jinie 1647, he was seized by the English <irmy. The Parliament condemned this act, and determined to continue negotiations with His Majesty. But the Parliament itself was overthrown by the force which had rendered it supreme. Colonel Pride with a detatchment of soldiers seized the Presby- terian members, or forced them to flee from London. After ■"Pride's purge," the remainder called the " rump," were controlled by the army and the Independents. The King was brought to trial, condemned, and on tlie 30th of January 1649, beheaded at White- hall. The Commons now abolished the House of Lords and the Monarchy itself.
Meanwhile the Irish Catholics, disgusted with the insolence of Rinuccini, the Papal Nuncio, had driven him from power. Ormond, who returned in September 1648, had made a treaty with the Confederates, and was soon at the head of an Irish army in the interest of the King. But Monk in the east, and Coote in the west ■of Ulster, held the greater part of that province for the Parliament.
The Presbytery, although in the power of these generals, protested against the execution of Charles, and the '• insolent and presumptuous practices " of the Sectarian party in England. This Tepresentation evoked the wrath of John Milton, who, although he had sworn to the Covenant, was angry with the "Westminster Assembly for condemning his dangerous doctrine of divorce. He published a reply to the Presbyterian protest so full of scurrility as to be unworthy of the greatest Englishman of the age. He calls Belfast a " barbarous nook of Ireland," and accuses the Presbytery of exhibiting " as much devlish malice, impudence, and falsehood as any Irish rebel could have uttered," and declares that by their actions he might rather judge them to be " a generation of Highland thieves and red-shanks."
For some time, there had been five distinct political parties in Ireland: — (1) the extreme Catholics under the leadership of Owen Roe O'Neill, who wished for the utter destruction of Protestantism ; (2) the moderate Catholics, who had made peace w^ith Ormond ; (3) the royalists who supported the King " ivifJiout the covenant:" (4) the Presbyterians who upheld "the King and the covenant ;" and (5) the Republicans, represented by Coote and Monk.
Monk now left the country, and Coote, with about 1,000 men, the only Republican force in Ulster, remained in occupation of Londonderry. Sir Alexander Stewart, with the Presbyterian troops •of the Lagan, sat down before that city in March, 1649, and until August it was closely blocaded. Sir Robert Stewart, uncle of Sir Alexander, joined the besiegers with a party of Royalists, and Sir George Monro, who had a commission from Charles, came with a
60 A Historij of the Irish Prcshyterians.
number of Highlanders and Irishmen. These commanders were afterwards joined by Lord Montgomerj-.
Montgomery had formerly pretended to be a zealous Presby- terian ; and when taken prisoner at Benburb, the Scotch Assembly used their influence to procure his release. He had been lately, by the Council of the Presbyterian army in Ireland, chosen General to oppose the Republicans. But meanwhile, through Ormond, he received a commission from Charles II. to be Commander-in-chief of the Royalist forces in Ulster, and he determined to betray the principles he had sworn to defend. By his orders Sir George Monro left the other generals to conduct the blocade of Derry, and capturing Coleraine, came to attack Belfast, which was held by Colonel Wallace for the Presbyterians. Montgomery now hurried up his forces, as if to defend the town from Monro, and they were admitted on the 27th of June. He then threw off the mask, "produced his commission from the King, and discharged Wallace of his trust." Lord Montgomery and Monro now captured Carrickfergus, and on the lltli of July, Monro again joined the besiegers of Londonderry. Montgomery followed witli a considerable force, and for some time the siege was vigorously prosecuted.
The Presbytery now finding that ^Montgomery was for the King without the Covenant, drew up, on the 7th of July, a declaration warning their people against serving in the Royalist army. And very many Presbyterians immediately withdrew from the besiegers of Londonderry, exhibiting a readiness to obey the admonitions of their Church seldom shown now in our own days of degeneracy, Tvlien the tie connecting a Presbyterian with his religion is not nearl}' so strong as the tie binding him to his position in society, or to some political organization managed by the enemies of his country and his creed.
To the amazement of both friends and foes, Owen Roe O'Neill, in consequence of a private treaty witli Coote, came on the 7th of August to relieve the city. Montgomery was compelled to raise the siege and return to his quarters in Antrim and Down. O'Neill took unwell before he left the neighbourhood, and soon afterwards died in county Cavan.
CHAPTER XII. UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH.
4^^' LIVER CROMWEIiL having rendered the Parliament I'll^l' supreme in England, and the Independents supreme in /\s^ the Parliament, now came to Ireland to act as Lord Lieutenant. On the 15th of August, 1649, he landed at Dublin. On the 3rd of September he invested Drogheda which had been garrisoned by the best of Ormond's soldiers, most of whom
Under the Commo7i wealth. 61
were English. A summons to surrender being rejected, Cromwell took the town by storm on the 11th, and put the garrison with juan}-- defenceless inhabitants to tlie sword. At AVexford he exercised the same severity. Other towns opened their gates when summoned. Venables sent north to co-operate with Coote, met him at Belfast which was taken on the 30th of September. On the 6th of December these generals gained a great victory over Lord Montgomery, not far from Lisburn. Heber M'Mahon, Bishop of Clogher, at the head of the Irish, was defeated near Letterkenny with great slaughter, and his head placed on one of the gates of Londonderry. The long contest was over. Ireland for the first time in her history was completely subdued.
The Independents being now supreme, began to set \\\) a religious establishment of tlieir own. Dr. John Osven came to Ireland as Oliver Cromwell's chaplain at a salary of £.200 a year, while his wife and family, who remained in England, received ^100 a year. Other Independent ministers came over, and for the next ten years received every encouragement from the State, but were never able to guide the religion, as they had guided the politics of the country. Independency wanted that cohesiveness necessary to. enable a denomination to stand in the day of persecution, and with ten years to take root in the soil, left hardly a trace behind when the power by which it had been supported was overthrown.
Alter the execution of Charles, Parliament framed an oath termed the engagement, which bound all by whom it was sworn to renounce " the pretended title of Charles Stewart," and to be faithful to the Commonwealth. It was necessary to take this oath before obtaining any public office, and the Government tried to force it on the Presbyterian ministers. But they, as they still held the principles of a limited monarcliy, refused to make the required declaration. Mr. Drysdale of Portaferry, Mr. Baty of Ballywalter, Mr. Alexander of Greyabbey, Mr. Main of Islandmagee, and others, were apprehended. Some of the remaining ministers went to Scotland, and some kept in concealment.
Soon afterwards, Colonel Yenables offered to permit the imprisoned pastors to return to their abodes, and exercise their ministerial functions, if they would promise not to " touch on any other thing of State matters than what is allowed by the State of England." But this offer was refused. The ministers holding themselves under the moral tie of a government by King, Lords, and Commons, considered that by taking the engagement they would be swearing to destroy the interests, which in the Solemn League and Covenant, they had sworn to maintain. Notwithstand- ing this refusal, they were soon released, but, at the same time» warned to expect no favour from the government.
After Montrose had been executed, Charles II. came, by invita- tion, to Scotland, in June 1650 ; and, although he had previously embraced Popery, now solemnly swore he " would have no enemies but the enemies of the Covenant — no friends, but the friends of the Covenant."
•62 A Histonj of the Irish Prcshijterians.
CroniM'oll, as Captain General of the Elnj^lisli forc3s, marched against him with an army of 16,000 men. Leshe,who commanded the Scots, by his skilful manoenvriug compelled Cromwell to retreat from Edinburgh to Dunbar. Thither Leslie followed, and against his own better judgment, left a position of advantage, descended to the plain, and offered battle to Cromwell. The Scots were defeated, and Edinburgh taken. Notwithstanding tliis disaster, Charles was •crowned at Scone. The Scots now acted on the defensive, and Crom well might have had difficulty in conquering the northern parts of the King- dom, had not diaries, like a madman, marched to England, in a vain hope of being joined by the people. He was swiftly followed by Cromwell, and on the 3rd of September, 1651, completely defeated at Worcester. He now fled from the Kingdom, and Cromwell was supreme.
During all this time, the Irish Presbyterians were closely watched lest they might espouse the interest of Charles. By a couucil of war, an act of banishmeut was pronounced against their ministers. Many of them fled from the country, and others, in the dress of farmers, travelled througli tlieir parishes and preached in private houses, or in the fields at the risk of imprisonment. The " engagement" was now pressed on the occupants of public offices, and heavy penalties inflicted on those who refused to swear.
But after Charles left the Kingdom, tlie Government of Ireland seemed less inclined to persecute Presbyterians, although the Roman Catholic faith was repressed with great severity. Cromwell, when in the country, had been asked by the governor of Ross for a promise of religious liberty as a condition of surrender. In reply, he declared he did not meddle with any man's conscience ; but if a liberty to "exercise" the Mass was meant, that would not be permitted where the Parliament of England had power.
During the period of Episcopal ascendancy, the practic3 was to press with full force against Presbyterians the penal laws seldom enforced against Catholics. The Papist was pardoned, and the Presbyterian punished for violating the provisions of the same enactment. But now, the Republicans began to permit Presbyterian pastors to exercise the functions of their office, although Romish priests were punished with severity. Through the intercession of Lady Clot worthy, mother of Sir John, Mr. Fergusson got leave to return to his work, and others came back about the same time. Even the P^piscopal Church was treated tenderly. Some of the bishops received small pensions, and several of the clergy lectured in private.
After the death of Ireton, Cromw^ell's son-in-law, Fleetwood, who married his widow, was appointed commander of the forces in Ireland, and one of the Commissioners who conducted the Govern- ment. Sir Phelim O'Neill and many who had committed murder in the rebellion of 1641, were now captured and executed. About this time some Baptist ministers came to Ireland, and divided the sectarian interest with the Independents. These preachers were exceedingly ignorant and overbearing, but they did not make much
Under the Connnonwealth. 63'
impression. The old Episcopal party, however, joined with them to strive to maintain the pers3Cutioa of Presbyterians.
In England, many new sects now sprang into existence. The fanaticism which produced Independency i^roduced other forms of Nonconformity. A wave of religious enthusiasm passed over the country, and the feelings of different men manifested themselves in different sects. The Quakers imagined they spoke by direct in- spiration of the Holy Ghost. They did not administer either baptism or the Lord's Supper, and they rejected a Gospel ministry. The Fifth Monarchy men desired to abolish all government, that they might prepare for the second coming of Christ. The followers of Lodowick Muggleton held as an article of faith that the sun was just four miles from the earth. Other sects taught doctrines equally absurd, and it required a dictator to bring order out of chaos.
Cromwell saw that his opportunity was now come. On the 20th of April, 1658, he went with 300 men to the House of Commons, ejected the members and locked the doors. And, although he sometimes afterwards consulted an assembly called a Parliament, which consisted of members from the three Kingdoms, he was, until his death, virtually Dictator of Great Britain.
Shortly before Cromwell's usurpation. Colonel Venables, Dr. Henry Jones- and other commissioners came to Carrickfergus to offer the Engagement. They sent soldiers to search for papers in the houses of Presbyterian ministers. From Mr. Adair, they took a large number of documents, one bundle of which contained the Presbytery's Representation against the Sectaries, and another paper which condemned the " horrid crime" of "murdering" the King. That night, the sergeant and soldiers kept these documents in the chamber where they lay. But wdiile they slept, a servant maid w^eut cautiously into their room, brought away a bundle of the papers, and sent them to Mr. Adair in the morning. This proved to be the very bundle that contained the only documents wdiich he had feared might fall into the hands of the authorities.
Next week, the commissioners summoned both pastors and people to appear at Carrickfergus to take the Engagement. " The whole country" came, as required, but refused to take the oath at the risk of imprisonment. For a few" days it seemed as if a period of persecution was about to set in. But the commissioners having heard of Cromwell's usurpation, suddenly assumed an appearance of great moderation. When the ministers fully expected to be arrested, and sent to England in a frigate, which was then stationed near Carrickfergus, they were told to go home, preach the Gospel, and live "peaceably."
About this time the Parliamentary commissioners in Dublin
* Dr. Jones had, in 1615, been made bishop of Clogher. He after- wards turned republican, joined the Regicides, and became scout-master general in Cromwell's army, where he was noted for deeds of cruelty. After the restoration, he returned to the Church, and continued to discharge his Episcopal functions.
64 A History of the Irish Preshyterians.
determined to compel a large nmiiber of Presbyterian ministers, landlords, and tenants to remove to Munster and Leinster, where they were to have lands on favourable terms, and to enjoy liberty of conscience. Sir R. Adair, Mr. Shaw, and other leading Presby- terians went to view the sites of the proposed settlements. But Cromwell adopted other plans of "planting" Protestants in Roman Catholic districts, and the Ulster Presbyterians remained unmolested.
In 1641, less than one-third of the landed property in Ireland was owned by Protestants. But now as a result of vast confiscations, they became owners of three-fourth of the whole country. What remained to Roman Catholic landlords in Ulster, Leinster, or Munster, had to be exchanged by them for an equivalent in Connaught. Many grants were made to soldiers of Cromwell, and, on these lands, Protestant settlements were established. Every Popisli priest was banished, and the celebration of the rites of Romish worship repressed with ruthless severity. But the rule of the Protector did not last long enough to firmly establish Protestantism in the South and West : unfortunately it lasted long enough to make that religion detested by the Kelts ; and the " curse of Cromwell" has ever since been a proverb.
The exiled ministers returned to Ireland, and at the same time came others who had not been there previously. The Pres- bytery soon became so large that it was divided into a number of committees, called the "meetings" of Antrim, Down, Lagan, Route, and Tyrone, which had power to do specified work. Many settlers arrived from Scotland and from England ; and the Presby- terian Church grew with the growth and strengthened with the strength of the Idngdom. The twenty-four ministers of 16;")3 soon increased to above seventy. A strict discipline was maintained, and the Presbytery was kept free from the disputes by which the Church of Scotland was then agitated. These disputes began in leoO, when a commission of the Church sanctioned the admission of royalists and others supposed to be enemies of religion into places of civil and military power. This action was confirmed by the Assembly of 1651, and twice afterwards. A strong minority protested, and the two parties became known as Resolutioners and Protesters.
But in Ireland, the Presbytery passed an overture in 1654, called the Act of Bangor, by which ministers were bound, in all their public ministrations, to refrain from taking part with either of the disputants in Scotland. This Act was the means of maintain- ing the internal peace of the Church in connection with her external prosperity.
About this time, Messrs. Adair and Stewart, with Sir John Clotworthy and Captain Moor applied to Fleetwood and the Council to take off the sequestration of the tithes and grant them to the ministers as a legal maintenance. This Fleetwood refused, but promised to all who applied, yearly salaries, to be paid by the treasury at Carrickfergus. These salaries the ministers accepted, although much preferring their " legal maintenance," even when less.
Under the Commonwealth. 65
It is stated by Dr. Reicl that about 150 clergymeu now received payment from the Government ; and that, of these, six were Presby- terians, twelve Episcopahans, and the others Independents or Baptists. But it is certain, that manj- more than six Presbyterian ministers drcAv salaries. Adair states positively that none of those in settled charges, who applied for grants, were refused. In County Down alone, salaries were received by at least fourteen ministers who were Presbyterians — Fleming, Livingstone, Gregg, Cornwall, Kichardson, Hutchinson, Gordon, Drisdale, Ramsay, Peebles, Stewart, M-Cormick, Campbell, and Bruce. These grants were generally .£100 a year — which would be equal to three or four times the same amount now.
In 1655, Henry Cromwell returned to Ireland, as commander of the army, to counteract the power of the Baptists. He brought over some Independent ministers, among whom was Steplien Char- nock, autlior of a work on the Divine Attributes. Cromwell governed Ireland with vigour and success. Graduall}' he became more favourable to the Presbyterians; and, after he had been promoted to be Lord Deputy, he summoned a meeting of Presbyterian and Independent clergymen to devise some uniform method of main- tenance different from the "mongrel sort of way" bstween tithes and salary by which they were then supported. A plan was adopted of giving ministers their "legal maintenance" of tithes, and of so " moulding parishes" that each would produce at least £'100 a year. This plan was never fully carried out. But in 1660, above sixty Presbyterian clergj-men obtained from the Convention a legal right to the tithes of the parishes where they were settled. This continued, however, for only '• that year and the next till the bishops were established."
During the administration of Cromwell, we find the sect of Quakers beginning to appear in Ireland. William Edmundson established a meeting at Lurgan where he had seven converts. He and John Tiffin began to address the people at fairs and markets on the corruptions of the ministr}-, the evils of steeple-houses, the sin of hat-honour, and the blasphemy of oaths. Afterwards two females of this sect travelled on foot through Ulster in winter, wading rivers and walking on the narrow paths Avhich went in a direct line over hills and through bogs. But they all failed to make many converts. At Belfast, Edmundson and his friends could find only one inn where the proprietor would consent to entertain them. The Presbyterian people were then too firmly attached to the principles <Df their church, and had too much confidence in their pastors, to be led by a religion of mere feeling, after the manner in which they now follow Baptists, Salvationists, or Plymouthists.
About this time, Mr. John Livingstone was again called by the parish of Killinchy to resume his pastorate among them ; but the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale refused to " transport" him thither. However, he came on a visit, and found that the rebellion had worked such a change on his old parish, that he did not know more than ten or twelve of its inhabitants. During his sojourn in Ireland,
66 A History of the Irisli Prcshtjterians.
he preached in many places, and attended a meeting of the Presby- tery, which seemed to him like a Synod, as above thirty ministers and about seventy elders were present. Many of these elders represented parishes, still destitute of a permanent ministry, which were supplied by the placed ministers in their turn.
Edmundson, the Quaker, was then in Armagh Jail. The keeper owned a public-house at which Livingstone stopped when visiting that neighbourhood. " 'Twas," said Edmundson, " on a seventh day of the week he came ; I was then fallen sick and in bed. The priest lodged in the next room, so that I could hear what they said. Towards evening many Presbyterians came to visit their mniister, and he read a chapter and expounded it unto them, sung a psalm and prayed; after which they left him that night." When Edmund- son was liberated he took a farm near Belturbet in order to have an opportunity of refusing to pay tithe, and thereb}- obtain the satisfaction of being punished for his obstinacy.
The Great Protector died on the 3rd of September, 1658, and his son Richard was proclaimed his successor. Henry Cromwell was now promoted to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and continued to rule the country with wisdom and vigour. Li the five years of his government, more progress was made in reducing Ireland to subjection than in fifty years under the Stuarts. Rebellion had been subdued. Life and property had been rendered safe. Liberty of conscience for almost all classes of Protestants had been established. Many settlers from England and Scotland had been " planted" in the Keltic districts of the South and West. In Ulster, marshes had been drained, woods cut down, and farm houses built. Landlords had now begun to reap the advantages of higher rent. The Presbyterian colonists had not been absorbed or modified by the Irish as their Anglo-Norman predecessors had been in the past. The Kelts themselves were beginning to learn the language and to adopt the custom of their conquerors. Prcsby terianism made rapid progress. Congregations were established not only in Antrim, Down, and Derry ; but in Tj-rone, Armagh, and other counties. As the wave of colonization flov/ed onwards, ministers went along with their countrymen. There were now in Ireland about seventy Presbyterian clergymen, having under their care eighty congregations, and nearly one hundred thousand people. The Presbj'tery had become so large that it was somcti)nes called a Synod.
For some time, Richard Cromwell seemed tirndy placed in his father's position. He summoned a Parliament by which he was recognized as first magistrate of the Commonwealth. But the army began to x^lot against their new master, whom the}' compelled to dissolve the Parliament. The Parliament was dismissed by Richard, and Richard by the officers. The old Romp w as again brought into power, and they declared there would be no first magistrate ; but they were soon dispersed by the army. Moved by fear, an alliance was then formed between the Royalists and Presbyterians. George Monk, who commanded the parliamentary army in Scotland, now marched into England, and on the Brd of Februar}'. 1660, entered
Tlie Second Persecution. 67"
London. On liis invitation, the expelled Presbyterian members, returned to the House cf Commons and became tlie majority. By orders of Monk, writs were issued for a Convention, and of tliis body the Presbyterians formed a majority. Having first saved the nation from the tyranny of Charles, they now saved it from the tyranny of the army ; but unfortunately they put their trust in princes.
A letter, sent by Charles to the Commons, from Breda, contained his celebrated Declaration, in which he promised a general pardon and liberty of conscience as conditions of his recall. The excesses, of the Baptists and Independents had produced such a reaction in England that even Puritans were willing to try the King without the Covenant, rather than be ruled by officers like Lambert, or by legislators like Prais3-God Barebone. The promises of Charles were accepted by the Convention, who invited him to return, without placing any legal limit on his acknowledged prerogatives.. Recalled by a Presbyterian Convention, lie became distinguished as a persecutor of those to whom he owed his throne ; and, while some of the political liberty for which the people and the Parliament had fought was maintained, the religious liberty which they had w^on was entirely lost.
In Ireland, Coote declared for Charles, took Dublin Castle, and,, by Presbyterian support, became master of the Kingdom. A Convention was called, which, in February 1660, met in Dublin. A majority consisted of Episcopalians. Yet, until the wishes of the King were known, they seemed to favour Nonconformists, and the Rev. Samuel Cox, a Presbyterian, was chosen chaplain. Sir John Clotworthy was deputed to treat with Charles, but the rapid march of events i)revented any results for good. The Convention deprived Anabaptist ministers of their salaries, but gave to the Presbyterian pastors and to about a hundred others reported to be orthodox, a. riglit to the tithes of the parishes in which they were placed.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SECOND PERSECUTION.
^^^jHARLES, although he cared little for any religion, preferred \=1^'. Roman Catholicism, to which faith he had been already !V%-^ reconciled in secret. He hated the principles and feared the politics of the Puritans within and the Non-conformists without the Episcopal Church. And although Presbyterians were ready to accept of the King wath the Covenant, he preferred the Episcopal party who hated the Covenant as strongly as they loved the King. His desire for power was more likely to be gratified by a
>68 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
■cliurcli, whose ministers taught he had a Divine right to do %yrong, than by a church which advocated Hniitations to his authority. Besides, the favourite vices of the monarch were vices to which Presbyterians show no indulgence. He therefore lent his influence to re-establish Prelacy, as more lenient to liis faults, more hopeful for his ambition, and more like the form of worship he preferred.
In England, the Convention was succeeded by a Parliament. Tlie ■excesses of the numerous sects of religious fanatics had produced a re-action in the mind of the nation, and the Prelatic party obtained •a majority. Episcopacy became the established religion of England as tiie Act by which it was formerly abolished had never been signed by the King.'" But there was not yet any law to exclude from the Established Church, those ministers who had not been Episcopally ordained, and until such was passed they still remained in their charges. The English Puritans were ministers in connec- tion with the Church they desired to reform ; and although the Parliament itself had determined to establisli Presbyterianism, that resolution had never been carried out except in Middlesex and in Lancashire.
The fanaticism of the Sectarian party had caused such fear, and their condemnation of innocent pleasures had caused such disgust, that the minds of the younger part of the x^opulatiou reacted towards Prelacy. Tlie Episcopalians being supreme in the Parliament, soon began to act with intolerance. They ordered the Covenant to be burnt, and the liturgy to be used without modification ; and, for the first time, Episcopal ordination was made necessary for holding the position of a clergyman in the Establislied Church.
An Act of Uniformity was passed (1662), which required every clergyman, if not Episcopally ordained, to submit to ordination by a Bishop, adjure the Covenant, and renounce the principle of taking up arms against the King under any pretence. It was made a crime under heavy penalties, to attend a Nonconformist place of worship. Ministers who refused to submit, were deprived of their livings and prohibited from coming within five miles of any town in which they resided, or of any town which was governed by a corporation, or which returned a member to Parliament.
Two thousand clergymen who refused to conform, were driven out of their parishes, and subjected to all the penalties permitted by law.
Those who remained, dwelt chiefly in their sermons on the sin of resisting any of His Gracious Majesty's commands. Restored to power by libertines, they refrained from condemning the favourite vices of those by whom they regained their authority. The spiritual life of the Church passed away with the Puritans, and every class of those who were left fell beneath the prevailing immorality.
* It was not, therefore, necessary to repeal that Act, as is stated in Killen's edition of Reid (vol. ii., p. 266, note).
TJic Second Persecution. 69
Meanwhile the Bisliops hastened to Ireland anl t lok poss3ssion of their seas. Bramhall was elevated to the primacy, and Jeremy Taylor was made Bishop of Down and Connor. Jones of Clogher, noted for his bloody deeds when scoutmaster in Cromwell's army, returned to his diocese.
At the request of tlie Bishops, the Lor Is Justicas iss'ied a proclamation forbidding all unlawful assemblies, under which term Presbyterian church-courts were included. The Synod had met at Ballymena, and a troop of horse were sent to " scatter the brethren." But the meeting was over before the troopers arrived. Jeremy Taylor, who had written so eloquently about " The Liberty of Prophesying," was nov/ active in depriving Presbyterians of what he claimed for himself. In the days of Sectarian supremacy, he had been compelled to answer in Dublin, for the crime of baptizing with the sign of the cross, and, probably, he was glad to be able to punish Presbyterians for tlie injuries he had received from Anabaptists. Although Prelacy had never been legally abolished in Ireland, there was no law to prevent ministers not episcopally ordained from holding benefices. But, notwithstanding the opportunity thus possessed by Taylor of showing mercy, he ejected thirty-six Presbyterian pastors in one day from their livings. Other Bishops soon followad his example, and every Presbyterian clergyman in Ireland had now to choose between embracing a system he Jmd sworn to extirpate and losing his means of support.
In all Irelanl, only eight Presbyterian ministers conformed. Reid gives a list of sixty-one, who for conscience sake renounced their livings and rendered themselves liable to bitter persecution. But probably there were others, such as the Rev. Hoi^e Slierrid of Armagh, whose names are not included in the list. Most of those who conformed were men of no deep religious principles, such as Milne of Islandmagee, who w^as afterwards found guilty of intemper- ance, incontinence, and neglecting his cure.
After an interval of nearly twenty years, the Irish Parliament met on the 8th of May, 1661. In that assembly the Episcopal party were predominant. Sir John Clotworthy, who had been lately created Lord Massareone, was tlie only friend upon whom Presby- terians could depend in the House of Lords. The nobility were now as ready to conform to Prelacy as they had been formerly to tak^ the Covenant. Nor was the position of Presbyterians much better in the Commons, since most of the members were returned by the territorial aristocracy, who had now begun to worship the rising sun of Episcopacy. Besides, the geographical distribution of Presbyterians was exceedingly unfavourable to their political power, as they were chiefly contined to five counties in the North-east, while Episcopalians were spread over the whole country. A Declaration was issued by the Parliament forbidding all Non-con- formists to preach. This Declaration was adopted in the House of Lords, on the motion of Lord Montgomery of Ards, now forgetful of the efforts made by the Church he deserted to obtain his liberty when a captive ; and who, in subscribing the Covenant twice, had
70 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
twice sworn to maintain what he now strove to overthrow. The magistrates of every town of importance in Ireland were ordered to burn the Covenant, and they all obeyed, except Captain Dalway of Carrickfergus, who for his disobedience was brought on his knees to the bar of tlie house, and fined in a hundred pounds. But the fine was remitted when he produced a certificate proving that he had complied with the injunction.
The ejected Presbyterian ministers remained in the country, and carried on their pastoral visitation as usual. In the sileoce of the night, they addressed meetings and administered the sacraments. Mr. Thomas Kennedy, when ejected from the parish of Donaghmore, remained among his people and officiated in a log house near Carland. For this act of disobedience he was imprisoned in Dungannon jail, where he was not permitted to see or even to receive letters from his Avife. But, nevertheless, Mrs. Kennedy visited the prison daily, bringing food of her own cooking and changes of linen for her husband. This food and clothing the cruel jailor used for liimself. Mr. Kennedy, although a near relative of the Earl of Cassilis, was treated as the lowest felon, and for several years, was keiDt in confinement. Being at last released by the influence of some English and Scotch noblemen, he removed to Scotland, where, for some time, he had charge of a congregation. After his return to Carland, there came one day to his door a beggar, whom Mrs. Kennedy recognized as her husband's jailor and persecutor. When the old man " discovered who she was, he quailed and trembled. She ran up stairs as he supposed to avenge herself by bringing some one to punish him. On her coming down with a large dish of meal to him, tears dropped from his wdthered cheeks, when in a soft tone she said ' this is my mode of avenge, to tender good for evil.' "'^'
Three of the ejected ministers — Bruce of Killinchy, Crookshanks of Raphoe, and M'Cormick of Magherally — began to address large meetings m public, and to speak plainly against the bishops. By this they pleased the multitude, and obtained more liberal contribu- tions for their support than the other ministers who laboured in private, and lived on "any small thing they had of their own among their people, without maintenance from them." But soon these young men had to leave the country, and their flocks were now deprived of that instruction which they might have still received had their
* Stewart's M.S. History of Carland. The Rev. Thomas Kennedy, was " son of Colonel Gilbert Kennedy of Ardmillan, in Ayrshire, and nephew of Jolni, sixth Earl of Cassilis, one of the Scottish noblemen appointed to act as lay-assessors at the Westminster Assembly." Mr. Kennedy's brother, Gilbert, settled in Dundonald. The following is the line of descent from Thomas Kennedy to the minister of Aghadoey. (1) Rev. Thomas Kennedy ; (2) Rev. John Kennedy (Benburb) ; (3) Rev. Wm. Kennedy (Carland) ; (4) John Kennedy, Esq. ; (5) Rev. Robert Kennedy (Ballyhobridge) ; (6) Rev. Gilbert Alexander Kennedy, Aghadoey.
The Second Persecution. 71
pastors acted with prudence. The Episcopal successors of the ejected clergymen were sometimes received hy their congregations with manifestations of hostility. At Comber, when the new minister proceeded to read the service, a number of females dragged him from ths desk and tore his surplice to pieces. One of these women, at her trial, held up her hands and said " These are the hands that pulled the white sark over his head."
The Duke of Ormond, who now became Lord Lieutenant, was disposed to tolerate Presbyterians. By advice of Lord Massaresne, Messrs. Adair, Stewart, and Semple went as a deputation to His Excellency to request more religious liberty, and endeavour to vindicate themselves and their brethren from continual charges made by their enemies. The Duke said he was in a strait what to do with these ministers. Formerly they had suffered /or the king— now they were likely to suffer under the king. When this questiou was brought before the council, the Bishops opposed the idea of toleration, and Lord Massareene could not command a majority. The daputation were accordingly told that they must live according to law, and that they might serve God in their families without gathering multitudes together.
Notwithstanding this injunction, Presbyterians were now per- mitted to enjoy a little more liberty, and their position might have "been soon further improved, had not a plot been formed against the Government, by Thomas Blood, who had been an officer in the King's army, but his associates were generally Cromwellians. Mr. Lscky, his brother-in-law, was the only Presbyterian minister who entered into his designs. This plot, instigated by folly, ended in disaster, as the conspirators were arrested on the very day they liad determined to attack Dublin Castle. Blood escaped, but Lecky was captured, tried, and executed, after refusing an offer of life, on condition of conforming to Episcopacy, Mr. Adair was arrested and brought to Dublin. Several other ministers, seized on suspicion, had never heard of the conspiracy. Of these, some were imprisoned in Carrickfergus ; and seven were confined in Carlingford Castle, where they might have starved had not a woman, named Clark, supplied them with the necessaries of life. When it was seen that Mr. Adair knew nothing of the plot, he was, by influence of Lord Massareene, released from jail, and committed to the custody of His Lordship. The other imprisoned ministers were, by orders of the King, permitted to choose whether they would leave the country or be sent to strange prisons. All except two cliose to leave Ireland, but some, through the influence of friends were permitted to remain in the country as private individuals. Afterwards, when the Duke of Ormond found that the Ulster Scots were in reality innocent of all complicity in the plot, he gave them indulgence for six months, during which time they were not to be troubled for Non-conformity. Before this period had expired, Bramhall, the Primate, died. Mar- getson, who succeeded, was mild in his disposition, and the Presby- terians, through him, obtained an additional six months' indulgence.
J^ut Leslie, Bishop of Baphoe, son of Leslie of Do^^ti, summoned
72 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
to bis court Messrs. John Hart, Taugliboyne ; Thomas Drummond, Eamelton ; AVilliam Semple, Letterkenny ; and Adam AVhite, Fannet. On their failing to apjDear, he passed on them sentence of excommunication, and condemned them to confinement iii the common jail of Lifford ; but through the indulgence of the sheriff, they were permitted to dwell together in a private house. Not- withstanding many efforts made to obtain their release, they were kept prisoners for six years. At last, a petition on their behalf was presented to the King, who, when informed that they had previously suffered for being royalists, wrote the Lord Lieutenant ordering their release, which, in October 1670, was effected.
The Irish Parliament, in 1665, required the clergy to adopt the revised English liturgy ; every minister not in holy orders, " according to the form of Episcopal ordination," was declared incapable of holding an ecclesiastical benefice from the 29th of September, 1667, unless previously ordained; and every Noncon- formist minister who celebrated the Lord's Supper was rendered liable to a fine of one hundred pounds.
Leslie upbraided the other bishops for their slackness, asserting that if they had followed his example, Presbyterianism would have been banished out of the country. This prelate had given himself to " eating and drinking," and had become so heavy that he could not move about. He survived till 1672, when he died " with great horror of conscience."
Meanwhile many of the ministers had returned to the country, Presbyteries had begun to hold their meetings, and sessions to revive discipline. About 1668, some congregations ventured to build meeting-houses, which were generally placed in secluded localities, w^here the observation of the authorities might not be attracted. Even yet the results of former persecution may be seen in the unsuitable sites of many of our churches. The position of Presby- terian ministers at this time, in Ireland, w^as one of danger and dilficulty. Persecuted under the King whom they assisted to restore, they were starved by the people for whom they provided the bread of life. So accustomed had Presbyterians been, in the past, to see their ministers "maintained" by tithes or a government "allowance" that it was only by slow degrees they awoke to a sense of their own responsibility to provide them a means of support instead of that which had been withdrawn by the Government.
In Cromwell's time. Ireland had become prosperous, and tenants were able to pay high rents, but the government of Charles soon turned backwards the tide of prosperity. The exportation of cattle, beef, or bacon to England was prohibited. What was sent to the colonies had to be conveyed in English ships. Prices having become lower, tenants could no longer meet the rapacious demands of their landlords for rent, and of the Episcopal clergy for tithes. Promises made at the time of the Ulster Plantation w^re broken, and Presbyterians were exposed to a civil as well as to an ecclesiastical tyranny, by a government which desired to hold them slaves in both body and soul.
The Second Persecution. 73
About this time several Scotch Presbyterians — both pastors and people — fled to Ireland as a place of refuge from the persecution then peculiarly severe in their native land. Among these was Alexander Peden " the prophet " who hid in the mountain fastness of Glen wherry. That placa was also the refuge of Willie Gilliland,''' a Scottish gentleman on whose head a price was set after the battle of Bothwell Bridge. He is the hero of Sir Samuel Ferguson's ballad, and is said to have slain with the iron spike in the butt end of his fishing rod one of the soldiers who had had ssizad his mare, dear to the outlaw's heart : —
" Down comes her master with a roar, her rider with a groan. The iron and the hickory are through and through him gone ! He lies a corpse ; and where he sat the outlaw sits again. And once more to his bonny mare he gives the spur and rein ; Then some with sword and some with gun, they ride and run amain; But sword and gun, and whip and spur, that day they plied in vain."
Some of these exiles from Scotland began to preach in the fields. But their Irish brethren Avere strongly opposed to this course as cal- culated to draw the attention of the Government. Besides, clergymen conducting services in private were not generally molested. Charles desiring to tolerate the Romish Church, to which he had been secretly reconciled, did not wish to press strictly the laws against Non-conformity in Ireland. When Lord B3rkeley came to govern the country, in 1670, he received public instructions to repress Popery, and private instructions to grant Koman Catholics as much liberty as possible. Presbyterians now openly dispensed the Communion in Dublin. The meeting-house was crowded, and hundreds stood outside at the open windows. About this time, delegates from the Presbyteries met as a kind of General Synod to consult about the state of the Church in general. Rules were adopted regarding the administration of baptism, and the admission of candidates to the office of the ministry. A collection was ordered to be taken up in all the congregations in aid of a number of Scotcli Presbyterian ministers now exiles in Holland on account of persecution at home. This collection produced about £'120 sterling.
* Willie Gilliland has I'^ft numerous descendants in Ulster. Among these are Professor Killen, Mr. Arthur C. Allen, J. P. ; and Mr. J. M. Andrews.
•• Yet so it was ; and still from him descendants not a few Draw birth and lands, and, let me trust, draw love of freedom too."
74 A History of tlie Irish Preshi/terians.
CHAPTER XIY.
THE PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND.
|p[^]HE most bitter persecution that was ever endured by V*?^'' Presbyterians in Ireland was mild compared with C'jI^> what tliey now suffered in Scotland. During the administration of Cromwell, the Scottish Church had prospered. She was strict in her discipline, grave in her govern- ment, and solemn in her worship. Her ministers were sound in their doctrine and pure in their morals. Her people were stern in their principles, and strongly attached to Presbyterian church- government. At the Restoration it is said that, except in some parts of the Highlands, every parish had a minister, every village a school, and every family a bible. In many districts a traveller might have ridden niiles before he would hear an oath or find a home in which family worship was not observed. Among the ministers w^ere such distinguished men as David Dickson, Samuel Rutherford, and Robert Blair. We have already described how Blair was, in 1623, ordained minister of Bangor. After many vicissitudes, he still preached in his old age, with majestic grandeur, the same glorious Gospel Avhich had been the subject of his youthful eloquence.
But the Church was now to enter a furnace of persecution. The very restoration had itself a bad effect, and caused many scenes of dissipation. The nation was drunk with joy. Even so rigid a Presbyterian as Janet Geddes gave her shelves, forms, and the chair on which she sat to make a bonfire in honour of the King's coronation.
The first Parliament was summoned to meet in January 1661, and tlie most shameless bribery was employed to carry out the wish of Charles to obtain a majority for overthrowing Presbyterianism. Many circumstances favoured the King's design. The Presbyterian Church condemned vices which the sons of the nobility loved dearly. All wlio were given to dissipation wished to see a church established, by law, from which they might not fear any ecclesiastical censure. The King ruled the aristocracy, and the aristocracy in reality nominated almost all the members of the Commons. Both Houses of Parliament, according to custom, sat together in the same chamber ; and in violation of law, the members did not subscribe the National Covenant. Several sittings of this Parliament had to be adjourned because Middleton was too drunk to keep the chair ; and many of the other members were often in a similar state of intoxication. This Assembly, ready to do anything the King desired, set about its work at once. All legislation for reformation, between 1638 and 1650, was declared treasonable, although the Acts in question had been duly sanctioned by the Sovereign. The govern- ment of the Church was now left entirely in the hands of the King,
The Persecution in Scotland. 75
who soon exercised that power to overthrow Presbyterianism, so dear to the Scots ; and now arose the most merciless persecution ever endured by any church in Great Britain.
The Marquess of Argyle, who, in 1651, had i)laced the crown on the head of Charles, was arrested, tried, and executed without the shadow of a crime proved against him ; but he incurred the animosity of the King ia being one of those who had formerly compelled him to take tlie Covenant as a condition of their support; and now the monarch had his revenge.
The Rev. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, who, in 1650, pronounced sentence of excommunication on Middleton, was the next victim. He was arrested, tried for high treason, condemned and executed as a traitor. On the 4th of October 1662, tlie Comicil issued a proclamation to the effect that every minister admitted since 1649, when patronage was abolished, would be banished from his parish, unless he had obtained a presentation from his patron and spiritual induction from his bishop, before the 1st of November. Middleton did not expect more than fifteen or twenty would refuse conformity. But, to his great astonishment, about four hundred preferred to resign rather than submit to an unscriptural system of church-government and doctrine. These ejected ministers were succeded by raw youths, generally called curates, although they were parish ministers.
The Rev. James Sharp had been sent by his brethren to London, in 1660, to manage the interests of the Church, and maintain its liberties. But he basely betrayed the cause he had been selected to uphold, and had sworn to defend. For reward of his treason, he received the bishopric of St. Andrews, and the primacy of Scotland. Together with Sliarp, three others— namely Fairfoul, Hamilton, and Leighton — after having been duly ordained deacons and then priests, were consecrated bishops. Of these renegades Leighton alone possessed any raligious principles.
The ejected ministers now began to preacli in the fields. But an Act against conventicles, was passed ; and Sir James Turner with troops was sent to the West, in 1633, to scatter the people who attended these meetings. Many Episcoj al curates were accustomed, after service, to call the roll of their parishioners, and report the absent to Turner, who was often judge, jury, and executioner. Such cruelty sometimes excited the pity of even those who had no religious principles. In 1664, a court of High Commission was established, which punished severely all who opposed Episcopal church government. By this court ministers were imprisoned, women publicly whipped, boys scourged, branded, and sold as slaves to Barbadoes.
In 1666, a number of countrymen rescued an old man from a party of soldiers who were about to roast him alive on a gridiron, because he refused to pay a fine inflicted for being a Presbyterian. Knowing that they had forfeited their lives, they determined to remain in arms. Joined by a number of others, they captured Sir James Turner. But at last, after a desperate struggle, they were
76 A History of the Irish Presbyterians.
overcome at Rullion Green, among the Pentlan^l Hills. About fifty were killed, inclncling Mr. Crookshanks and Mr. M'Cormick — two ministers from Ireland. Nearly eighty prisoners were taken, either on the field of battle or afterwards, and of these about thirty-five perished on the scaffold. At the suggestion of the Bishops, Mr. John Neilson of Corsack, and Mr. Hugh M'Kail, preacher, were tortured with an instrument called the boot. It consisted of foar pieces of wood in which a leg of the victim was confined. These pieces were then driven together by wedges, which caused them to press so tightlj^ as to make the marrow leave the bone. Before the executions were finished, a letter came from the King to Sharp, as President of the Council, ordering no more lives to be taken. But the Archbishop kept back the order until M'Kail had been executed. After the Duke of Lauderdale had, in 1667, obtained the chief management of affairs in Scotland, there was a temporary cessation of persecution. A Presbyterian at heart himself, he did not, at first, proceed to cruelty so great as had been previously practised ; and some of the most notorious persecutors were dismissed. By order of the King, an Act of Indulgence was passed by the Council, in 1669, more with the object of creating divisions than of affording relief. A limited libert}^ of preaching was given by this enactment to ministers who refrained from speaking against the changes in Church and State. Some accepted of this indulgence, and others refused ; but those who accepted the relief it afforded were called " King's curates " by the zealous Covenanters ; and were by them regarded as little better than the " Bishop's curates." Other ministers who refused this indulgence, began to preach in the fields. To them the people resorted in crowds. Sermons delivered under such circumstances, produced a great effect. Many converts were made, and the zeal of the people went up to a high pitch of enthusiasm. Driven to madness by persecution, they came to these meetings fully armed. Watchmen \verc placed on the hills around. The preacher with a bible in his hand and a sword by his side warned the people to fear spiritual more than temporal death. These appeals rendered them regardless of danger, and many bloody encounters took place between the soldiers and the Covenanters.
" There, leaning on his spear.
The lyrat veteran heard the Word of God, By