Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/716

Rh 692 PRESBYTERIANISM [IRELAND. winning side, and by the end of 1643 the Ulster church was fairly established. Ireland was included in the Solemn League and Covenant, though the oath was not taken until March 1644. So strong were the Presbyterians that their request that the whole army should be subjected to their discipline was at once granted ; and, when a number of Episcopal ministers formed themselves into a presbytery of their own, but without lay eldership and subjection to higher courts, the jealous zeal of the Scots found means to break it up. Meanwhile they were in constant communication with Scotland, of whose system Ulster can best be regarded as a part. In 1645 they were strengthened by the Scots who fled from Montrose, and by the presence of the commissioners of the parliament, who ordered that the covenant should be tendered to all who had not yet taken it. The commissioners also gave the tithes of parishes to ministers who applied for them, and their sanction as a civil power to the presbyteries to censure and punish scandalous ministers. It should be noted that this assumption by the civil power was much scrupled by the ministers as savouring of Erastianism, and the commissioners had to explain away their action. The celebrated vote of the English House of Commons on 14th March 1646 was the first check ; the second was the crush ing defeat of the Scottish troops at Benburb by O Neill. Nevertheless by 1647 there were, besides the chaplains of Scottish regiments, nearly thirty ordained ministers with fixed charges in Ulster. When the affair of the &quot; engage ment&quot; took place, both the Scottish parliament and the general assembly sent to secure the Irish vote. The pres byteries obeyed the church, the regiments the parliament. Inde- After the Scottish defeat at Preston the English parliament, pendency now entirely anti-Presbyterian, determined to attack the supreme. g cots j n Ulster. In this they were so well served by Monk that by the end of 1648 the Independents, as opposed both to Prelatists and Presbyterians, were superior, and by the end of the year were supreme. Independency became the state church, and the Presbyterian clergy were excluded from the garrison towns. In spite, however, of their downfallen condition, they absolutely refused to take the oath of the engagement, which bound men to be faithful to the Commonwealth without a king or House of Lords, whereupon the most important among them were arrested, while the rest fled to Scotland. During 1651 they were excluded from the pulpit and deprived of their tithes, and in March they were formally banished by a council of Avar, while the engagement oath was pressed on all classes. Presby- Upon Henry Cromwell s arrival, the Protector s object terianism being to reconcile all parties to his sovereignty, the penal- ties for refusing the engagement were remitted ; ministers were allowed to officiate without restraint ; and the banished ministers returned. So rapidly did their number increase that by 1655 three bodies performing all the functions of regularly constituted presbyteries had been formed, acting under commission of the whole presbytery. Meanwhile, however, no settled maintenance was available, and it was with great difficulty that the council was induced to afford two years salary. One illustration of the united state of this church and of its autonomy is to be found in its action regarding the schism in Scotland between Pro testers and Kesolutioners. At a general meeting at Bangor it was determined, by the Act of Bangor, 1654, that, &quot;though some differed in opinion from the rest, yet there should be no mutual contestings about the differences in Scotland among themselves, nor any owning of them on either side in public preaching or prayer. But, whatever mention might indirectly be made of these divisions, it should be in order to healing them in Scotland.&quot; Under Henry Cromwell all sects pursued their course in peace, and the Presbyterians especially increased their strength until the Restoration, in which they heartily co-operated, assisting Sir C. Coote in the coup de main which secured Dublin for the king. There were now in Ulster seventy ministers in fixed charges, with nearly eighty parishes or congregations, containing 100,000 persons. These ministers were in five presbyteries, holding monthly meetings and annual visita tions of all the churches within their bounds, and coming together in general synod four times a year. An entire conformity with the Scottish Church was maintained, and strict discipline was enforced by kirk sessions, presbyteries, and house-to-house visitations. At the Restoration the determination of the Govern- His ment to put down Presbyterianism was speedily felt in s nc Ireland. In January 1661 the lords justices forbade all ,.* unlawful assemblies, under which head were placed meet ings of presbyteries, as exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction not warranted by the laws of the kingdom. In a discus sion with Jeremy Taylor they upheld the jus divinum of Presbyterianism and refused to take the oath of supremacy without the qualification suggested by L T ssher. At first their parishes were merely declared vacant and Episcopal clergy appointed to them ; but shortly afterwards they were forbidden to preach, baptize, or publicly exhort. In Ulster alone sixty-one ministers were ejected ; only seven out of seventy conformed. Conventicles, of course, arose, conducted chiefly by young Covenanting ministers from Scotland, of whom the ablest, most indefatigable, and most obnoxious to the authorities was Michael Bruce. The abortive attempt of Blood, in which he endeavoured to associate the Presbyterians, brought fresh trouble, and the Ulster ministers were with a few exceptions compelled to leave the kingdom. Ormonde, indeed, refrained from harassing them ; but it was not until 1665 that the un molested return of the ministers enabled them to revive their worship and discipline. Presbyteries without ruling elders were organized in private houses, parishes were regu larly visited, chapels were built, baptisms were performed, help was sent to the brethren in Holland, and offenders once more came under the active discipline of presbyteries and kirk sessions. A committee which met in place of the regular synod went so far as to insist that all irregular baptisms should be regularly performed. The toleration afforded them is remarkable when compared with that in England and Scotland. Hitherto, thanks to the wise Act of Bangor, the church had had peace within her OAVU borders. It was not until 1671-72 that this was broken by David Houston, who showed an impatience of ecclesiastical restraint and opposed the settled ministry. This led to the drawing up in February 1672 of a series of regulations as to conducting the trials, ordination, and settling of ministers. Houston left Ireland in 1673, but the schism created by him lasted till 1840 in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. In 1672 the Presbyterian Church received from Charles II. a sum of 600 from the secret service fund. For several years the church prospered, not only in the north, but in the south and west as well. In 1679 the rising in Scotland, which ended in the battle of Bothwell Brigg, brought trouble on the Irish Presbyterians, in spite of their loyal addresses disowning it. It was not, how ever, until 1682 that they again lost the privilege of public ministry and that oppression became so severe. They cor dially concurred with the Episcopalians against James II., though they had benefited by his Declaration of Indulg ence, and were the first to congratulate William III. on his arrival in England. During the war several of them took an active part in the siege of Londonderry ; the rest fled to Scotland. A list sent in by them to the general assembly shows that there were then in Ireland a hundred congre gations, seventy-five with fixed ministers, and that there