Ulster Presbyterianism: The Historical Perspective, 1610-1970

280 Pages·1987·16.039 MB·English

by  Peter Brooke

PRESBYTERIANISM
PETER BROOKE
ULSTER
PRESBYTERIANISM
PETER BROOKE
Any attempt to understand the Northern
Ireland conflict must involve an attempt to
understand the Ulster Protestant population.
This pioneering book surveys the largest and
most distinctive element in that population.
Presbyterianism was established in Ulster on
a firm organisational basis in the 1650s,
under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. It
was sufficiently strong to resist persecution
after the Restoration of Charles II. It achieved
a small degree of recognition by the state
after the Glorious Revolution of 1689. It was,
in a sense, a state within a state. Its Synods,
Presbyteries and Sessions were courts in
which cases concerning ministers and
laymen could be heard. It exercised a
rigorous discipline over its members. Its
ministers and lay elders met regularly
throughout the year to decide the affairs of
the church. Congregations had the right to
choose their ministers. All ministers had
equal status and decisions were arrived at
between them by majority vote. For two
centuries there was a constant stream of
controversial pamphlets relating entirely to
theological disputes among Ulster
Presbyterians, many of which had important
political implications as well.
This, then, was a highly organised community
with a well-developed intellectual life,
sharpened by continual debate. Such was
their organisational and intellectual self-
confidence that at the end of the eighteenth
century a group of them, representing all
shades of theological opinion, made a bid to
seize power in Ireland in the name of
French Revolutionary principles.
This book examines the Ulster Presbyterian
community over a period of more than three
centuries. It shows how religion can
contribute to the development of a sense of
cultural and national identity. It therefore
goes far towards showing how the Ulster
Protestants have remained so troublesome
for those in Britain and Ireland who would like
to think of Ireland as one people under one
government, separate from Great Britain.
BOSTO
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/ulsterpresbyteriOOpete
ULSTER PRESBYTERIANISM
The Historical Perspective
Every earthly kingdom depends, under providence, for its
origin, support and continuance, upon mere opinion . . .
Henry Cooke
For Walter Firpo,
poet and painter.
Peter Brooke
V- >>
ULSTER
PRESBYTERIANISM
The Historical
Perspective
1610-1970
GILL AND MACMILLAN
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS
NEW YORK
Published in Ireland by
Gill and Macmillan Ltd
Goldenbridge
Dublin 8
with associated companies in
Auc kland, Dallas, Delhi, Hong Kong,
Johannesburg, Lagos, London, Manzini,
Melbourne, Nairobi, New York, Singapore,
Tokyo, Washington
© Peter Brooke 1987
0 7171 1405 1
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Brooke, Peter
Ulster presbyterianism: the historical perspective.
1. Presbyterian Church in Ireland — Northern Ireland — History 2. Northern
Ireland — Church history
I. Title
28572416 BX 9061.N6
ISBN 0-7171-1465-1
Published in the United States of America by
St. Martin’s Press, Inc.,
175 Filth Avenue,
New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0-312-01271-3
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Brooke, Peter
Ulster presbyterianism
Bibliography: P.
Includes index.
1. Presbyterian Church — Ulster (Northern Ireland
and Ireland) — History. 2. Presbyterian Church in
Ireland — History. 3. Ulster (Northern Ireland and
Ireland) — Church History. 4. Ulster (Northern
Ireland and Ireland) — Politics and Government.
I. Title
BX 9061.U47B76 1987 28572416 87-16705
ISBN 0-312-01271-3
Print origination in Ireland by Galaxy Reproductions Ltd, Dublin
Printed in Great Britain by
The Camelot Press, Southampton
All rights reserved. No part ol' this publication may lx* copied,
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, without permission of the publishers.
Contents
Introduction: An Irish Intellectual Tradition vii
Note on Terminology xii
1 Clearing the Ground 1
1. The Reformed Tradition in Europe 1
2. Calvinism in Scotland 6
3. Absolutism in Ireland 9
2 The Birth of Ulster Presbyterianism 14
1. A Ferment in the Church of Ireland 14
2. The Birth of High Church Anglicanism 19
3. A Scottish Calvinist Revolution 25
4. The First Presbytery in Ulster 29
5. An English Calvinist Revolution 32
6. Presbyterianism under Cromwell 37
3 A Church without Patrons 43
1. The Restoration 43
2. A Unique Dissenting Church 46
3. The First Synod of Ulster 53
4 Free to Develop 63
1. Dis tin c tiv e Prin ciples 63
2. Understanding History 66
3. Latitudinarianism in England 72
4. Latitudinarianism in Ulster 81
93
5 The New Dissenters
1. Evangelicalism and Calvinism in Scotland, England
and America 93
2. Seceders and Covenanters in Ulster 104
6 Political Ambitions 112
1. An Armed People 112
2. Alliance with the Catholics 121
3. Defeat and Demoralisation 129
7 Retrenchment and Reorientation 137
1. Retrenchment: The Belfast Academical Institution 137
2. Reorientation: The Arian Controversy 145
8 Parliamentary Politics 154
1. Two Tactics: Protestant Union and Radical
Sectarianism 154
2. Control of Primary Education 163
3. Control of Higher Education 169
9 From Presbyterian to Protestant 175
1. Individual Salvation and Social Organisation 175
2. Secularisation in Britain and Ireland 111
3. Radical Sectarianism Fights Back 182
4. The 1859 Revival 190
5. Part of a Wider Culture 194
Conclusion: The Ulster Protestants 198
1. Exclusion from British Political Development 198
2. Church, State and Education in Northern Ireland 203
3. The Challenge from Catholic Ireland 206
4. The Rise of Ian Paisley 211
Notes 215
Bibliography 230
Index 245