(published in the March 2008 edition of “The Ulster-Scot” newspaper by the Ulster-Scots Agency)
To explain the background of the Covenanters’ story, we need to go back to 1516, to discover how the radical ideas of a German monk became a great wind of change that swept across Europe - and eventually into Scotland and Ulster.
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From Germany and Geneva to Scotland
by Rev Robert McCollum, Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
The Covenanters, who came to Ulster at the beginning of the 17th Century, were deeply influenced by the Scottish Reformation (1560).
GERMANY 1516
The story of the Scottish Reformation goes back to a German monk, Martin Luther,(above) who in 1516 discovered that the righteousness which God required of the sinner He himself had provided in Jesus Christ. In making this discovery Luther’s reaction was euphoric. “Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through the open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage (Romans 1:16,17) became to me a gate to Heaven.” Martin Luther wanted the world to share in his discovery. In 1517, when he published his beliefs on the church door at Wittenburg, he ignited a flame that soon spread throughout Europe.
PATRICK HAMILTON
The beliefs of Martin Luther came to Scotland via a young man of Royal descent called Patrick Hamilton. He had gone to Paris in the 1520’s to further his education with a view to entering the priesthood. He became aware of the controversy in Germany associated with Luther and through his contact with the German Reformer accepted the Reformed faith for himself. Thrilled with the blessings of his new found faith, Patrick Hamilton wanted all of Scotland to hear the Gospel. Scotland at that time was very hostile to the Reformation. After his arrival in 1528 he preached passionately and persuasively to his fellow Scots. The church authorities soon took notice, condemned him and burnt him at the stake in St Andrews in 1528. Archbishop Beaton hoped to make an example of Hamilton but his martyrdom had the opposite effect. One bystander at the scene of his execution remarked, “The reek of Patrick Hamilton has infected as many as it blew upon.” One of those influenced by Hamilton was George Wishart. The authorities caught up with him in 1546 at a time when one of his young friends was willing to die with him.
JOHN KNOX IN GENEVA
That friend was John Knox, who fled to St Andrews castle for safety. In 1547 the castle was captured by the French and Knox was forced to become a galley slave for 19 months in the French fleet. On his release in 1549 he preached for a time in England and then fled to Geneva to escape the malicious designs of Queen Mary Tudor (1553-58). At Geneva, Knox came into contact with the brilliant French Reformer, John Calvin. Knox was later to describe Geneva at that time as, “the most perfect school on earth since the days of the apostles”.
THE FIRST of 30 COVENANTS
In the mid 1550’s some Scottish nobles invited Knox to return to Scotland to promote the Protestant Reformation. When he was half-way home they changed their mind, but they later renewed the invitation and entered into a solemn covenant or bond pledging commitment to the Reformation and to Knox. This Covenant is of historical importance as it was the first of 30 Covenants associated with the Scottish Reformation. In these Covenants the Scottish Reformers were following the example of the days of Joshua, Josiah and Nehemiah. In swearing these Covenants the Reformers did not consider that they were binding themselves to anything additional to the Bible, but that they were additionally binding themselves to that which was already their duty to do. Knox responded to this invitation arriving in Scotland in May 1559. The nation was ripe for his message and within a year the general population accepted the prominent doctrines of the Reformation. After legislation was passed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Parliament in 1560 the church became a Reformed Church and the nation became a Reformed nation. Subsequently a struggle ensued as to the nature of the Reformed Church. Knox had in mind the independence of the Church under Christ governed by elders (Presbyterianism). James VI (right) wanted a Church subject to the State, governed by bishops (Episcopacy).
THE FIRST NATIONAL COVENANT
After the death of Knox, Andrew Melville, through his preaching and controversy with the King, became known as the great champion of the ‘Divine Right of Presbytery’. His efforts culminated in the ‘First National Covenant’ or ‘King’s Confession’ of 1581 which became known as ‘The Great Charter of Presbytery’.
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From Scotland to Ulster
by Dr Lawrence Holden, Queens University Belfast
MIGRATIONS TO ULSTER
No single date or event transformed the Scots into a Presbyterian people. The progress was slow and steady, influenced by events in Europe, and by Scottish Reformers such as Knox and Melville who returned from Geneva to reform the Kirk. As the religious life of the Scottish Lowlands changed over a period of two or three generations, the people’s belief in themselves as a Covenanted people and the resulting struggle for Presbyterianism became intertwined with their national identity. The population of lowland Scotland was rising, and when the migrations to Ulster began, firstly with the Hamilton and Montgomery Settlement in 1606, and then with King James’ highly planned Ulster Plantation in 1610, the Scots crossed the North Channel in numbers. James had deemed the Lowland Scots suitable for the ‘planting of civilitie’ in Ulster. However his struggle for control over the Church in Scotland had not been resolved, and within the ‘official’ plans for Plantation an unplanned, and more natural, migration of Scottish culture and religious identity crossed over to Ulster.
RELIGION AND REVIVAL
The first generation of Scots in Ulster were not a pious people, but they were a practising people - familiar with the preaching style of their own ministers and familiar with the simplicity of the Scottish Presbyterian style of worship. One of leaders of the small band of Presbyterian ministers who had crossed into Ulster was Robert Blair, who settled in Bangor in 1623. Blair and his fellow ministers laboured quietly in a small number of Scots congregations in south Antrim and north Down, and by the long winter of 1625-6 the small rivers of spiritual change became a torrent as a mighty revival occurred in Oldstone by the banks of the Six Mile Water in county Antrim. James Glendinning the minister at Oldstone had ‘roused up the people, and wakened them with terrors’, and as Glendinning’s ministry ended so the people were soothed by the preaching of Josias Welsh. Josias Welsh was the grandson of John Knox, and also a former professor at Glasgow University who was part of a group of Godly ministers described as ‘the heirs of Andrew Melville’. The Scottish Reformation arrived in Ulster with an impact both powerful and enduring.
PRESBYTERY AND PERSECUTION
The influence of the revival quickly spread through the small communities of county Antrim and Down. The ministers spoke of ‘multitudes of such men who had no power to resist the word of God’, and sought to give some form and leadership to the growing numbers attending house meetings in the Antrim area. John Ridge, the English minister at Antrim, suggested a monthly lecture and invited Robert Blair of Bangor, Robert Cunningham of Hollywood and James Hamilton of Ballywalter to ‘bear the burden’. The ‘Antrim Meeting’ quickly grew over the following years with the addition of Henry Calvert of Oldstone, George Dunbar who had ministered at Ballymena and Larne, Josias Welsh (now settled at Templepatrick), Andrew Stewart of Donegore, John Livingstone of Killinchy and Edward Brice of Broadisland (Ballycarry). King James’ ambitions to control the church were not confined to Scotland, and in Ireland the bishops on whom he conferred great power to administer that royal control, viewed the growth of the Antrim Meeting with suspicion and contempt. One bishop described the influence of the revival as a ‘contagion lately spread over the face of the whole countries of Down and Connor’ and the ministers as ‘absolute irregulars, the very ebullition of Scotland’. By the 1630’s the Ulster Scots were living in ‘perpetual fear that the bishops would put away their ministers’. Their fears were well founded as the first ministers were deposed in 1634 in persecutions which lasted until 1636. In that year some of the ministers and people tried to set sail for New England in the ‘Eagle Wing’, without success. Amidst emotional scenes the remaining depositions took place on the 12th August 1636. Defiant in front of the bishops, Robert Cunningham of Holywood delivered his final response to their persecution - ‘I rather lay down my ministry at the feet of my Lord and Saviour Christ, of whom I did receive it, than to live with an evil conscience at the free liberty of it’.
RESILIENCE AND THE EVE OF THE COVENANT
By 1637 the Scots in Ulster had lost their spiritual leaders, the state and established church were optimistic that ejecting the ministers would finish Presbyterianism in Ulster. It was not to be, the community remained resilient, the fledgling Kirk endured and the bishop’s optimism that their persecution had been successful proved ill founded on the eve of the Covenant.
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READ:
A True Narrative, or, The Rise and Progress of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1623-1670
by Rev Patrick Adair (price £20.00)
Sometimes simply called “Adair’s Narrative”, this is arguably the most important book about the early Presbyterians in Ulster, because the author, Rev Patrick Adair, was one of their early ministers. It has been out of print since 1866, but a limited edition reprint (of only 250 copies) will be launched by the Presbyterian Historical Society on 19th March.
Available from the Presbyterian Historical Society, Belfast
Telephone 028 9032 2284
Website: www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com
READ:
The Six Mile Water Revival of 1625
by Rev W.D. Bailie (price £2.00)
Originally published by the Presbyterian Historical Society in 1974, this 28 page booklet is the best-known summary of the events that took place around South Antrim during the Six Mile Water Revival of 1625. It covers the period from the arrival of the first Scottish settlers through to the massacres of 1641, and includes lots of information about the early Scottish ministers in Ulster.
Available from the Presbyterian Historical Society, Belfast
Telephone 028 9032 2284
Website: www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com
CLICK:
CD Rom - The Covenanters Trail
by Robert Hart and Alan Hart, Cumnock, Ayrshire
(price £14.00 inc p&p)
This excellent CD Rom (PC only, no Mac version available) contains an interactive tour of more than 60 Covenanter memorial locations across Scotland, spread over 180 pages of maps, photographs, memorial inscriptions and the stories of many of the martyrs themselves.
Available from Robert Hart
162 Barshare Road, Cumnock
Ayrshire, Scotland, KA18 1NR
email: robert.hart2@btinternet.com
Website: www.robert.hart2.btinternet.co.uk
SPECIAL EVENT
Who Are the Covenanters? From the Killing Times to the 21st Century
Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church, Doagh Road, Newtownabbey
Friday 18th April 2008 at 7.30pm
• A presentation by Professor Edward Donnelly, Principal of Reformed Theological College, Belfast and Minister of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church
• Unaccompanied singing of psalms
• Historical and present day Covenanter testimonies
• An exhibition of Covenanter history
Everyone welcome!
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