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IN the spring of the year
1631, the presbyterians of Ulster, wearied out by the intolerance of
Charles I., and Archbishop Laud, and the consequent exactions of the
ministers of the crown, particularly the Lord Deputy Wentworth,
afterwards Earl of Stafford, by which their cup of bitterness was made
to overflow, turned their eyes to the new settlements in the wilds of
America. The Puritans of England, who were contending and suffering for
the same rights of conscience, had planted colonies in Massachusetts,
which cheered them with the expectation of a refuge from the ills they
could neither be freed from, nor endure, in their native land. The
flourishing colony had been planted at Salem, in the year 1628, and had
been even more successful than Plymouth. These prosperous efforts to
secure the enjoyment of liberty of conscience, turned the attention of
the distressed congregations of Ireland to seek, in the deeper solitudes
of distant America, what had been promised, and sought for in vain, in
depopulated Ireland; or enjoyed only while they reclaimed the
desolations of the previous rebellion.
The ministers that had
come over from Scotland, whose names have been enumerated, had not
attempted to form a Presbytery. The whole country had been laid off into
parishes and bishoprics of the Church of England; and as the emigrants
from England or Scotland found their residences, they were consequently
included in some parish, and the ministers that came over to preach to
them were admitted to occupy parish churches, and enjoy their own forms
and ceremonies. Archbishop Usher was most mild and tolerant in his views
of church order and government; and so, for a time at least, were some
of his bishops; and in the different Dioceses of Ulster might be seen
priests and deacons of the Established Church, and here and there
intermingled a Presbyterian or Puritan minister, with a flock of their
own peculiar creed and forms, under the bishop's supervision. The great
revival had broken up some of this quietness and order that had
prevailed, by exciting jealousies between the favorers and opposers of
that blessed work : the bishops mostly withdrew their favor and
protection, and were ready to carry into effect the rigid orders from
Laud and the Deputy, and proceeded to silence those that would not
conform strictly to the rites and ceremonies of the establishment, and
began with Blair and Livingston: but by the food offices of Archbishop
Usher these men were restored to their ministry. Their enemies, however,
made representations at Court which resulted in shutting out from the
exercise of the ministry, Blair, Welch, Livingston, and Dunbar.
These oppressed
ministers, with many of their respective charges, began to make
preparation for removal to America. Two persons were appointed delegates
to visit Now England, the Rev. John Livingston and Mr. William Wallace,
and, if circumstances were favorable, to choose a place for their future
residence. They proceeded to England to find a passage to America; but
some unexpected difficulties caused their return to Ireland, and
prospects in Ireland appearing more favorable, the project was for a
time abandoned. In 1634, these ministers, who had been restored to their
office, were three of them again suspended, and the next year the
fourth, Livingston, shared the same fate; their only crime charged was
their opposition to Episcopal forms. During the same year four other
ministers were forbidden the exercise of their ministry on account of
their adherence to Presbyterial forms; Brice, who was amongst the
earliest that visited Ireland, and after a laborious ministry of twenty
years, died the next year after his suspension, aged sixty-seven
years,—Ridge, who went to Antrim in 1619, and had been most laborious
and successful, and after his suspension returned to Scotland, and died
1637,—Cunningham, who had gone over in 1622, and returning to Scotland,
after his suspension, died in 1637,---and Colwort, minister at Oldstone,
where the great Revival began.
Once more preparations
for emigration were commenced, and a correspondence opened with the
colonies in New England. Cotton Mather, in his Magnolia, tells us, Boot.
1st—"That there were divers gentlemen in Scotland, who, being uneasy
under the ecclesiastical burdens of the times, wrote on to New England
the inquiries:—Whether they might be there suffered freely to exercise
their Presbyterial church government? And it was freely answered—that
they might. Thereupon they sent over an agent, who pitched upon a tract
of land near the mouth of the Merrimac River, whither they intended to
transplant themselves. But although they had so far proceeded in their
voyage as to be half-seas through, the manifold crosses they met withal,
made them give over their intentions; and the providence of God so
ordered it that some of these very gentlemen were afterwards the
revivers of that well-known Solemn League and Covenant, which had so
great an influence upon the nation." There is one error in this extract.
The conclusion would naturally be, that the expedition was from
Scotland; and very probably Mather understood it to be from that
country,—whereas, the company sailed from the North of Ireland. The
error arose undoubtedly from the fact, that the correspondence was
carried on from Scotland, and the agent was a Scotchman, the ministers
were from Scotland, and of no small eminence, and the colonists
themselves were either Scotch-men by birth, or the children of Scotchmen
reared in Ireland.
The deposition of their
ministers, which took place August 12th, 1636, hastened the preparations
for emigration, and on the 9th of the following September, the EAGLE
WING, a. vessel of one hundred and fifty tons, set. sail from Lockfergus
with one hundred and forty emigrants prepared for the voyage, and a
settlement in a new country. The colonists took with them the necessary
implements for carrying on fisheries, and also a considerable amount of
merchandise to assist them by traffic to meet the expenses of the voyage
and necessities of the new settlement. Among the emigrants were four
noted preachers, ROBERT BLAIR, JOHN LIVINGSTON, JAMES HAMILTON, and JOHN
MCCLELLAND: all afterwards promoters of the cause of truth in Scotland
and Ireland. Among the families that composed the company were the names
Stuart, Agnew, Campbell, Summervil, and Brown. Many single persons
united in the expedition, and with them sailed Andrew Brown, a deaf
mute, from the parish of Larne, who during the revival had been deeply
affected, and had given satisfactory evidence, by signs connected with a
godly life, of having been truly converted. Like the voyagers in the MAY
FLOWER, this devoted people met with difficulties. The New England
Memorial traces them in the former case to the knavery of the
shipmaster, first in springing the leak, then in landing them far north
of the intended harbor; in the present case the parties concerned
referred them to the providence of God.
"We had," says the Rev.
John Livingston in his account of the voyage, "much toil in our
preparation, many hindrances in our outsetting, and both sad and glad
hearts in taking leave of our friends. At last, about the month of
September, 1636, we loosed from Lockfergus, but were detained some time
with contrary winds in Lock Regan in Scotland, and grounded the ship to
search for some leaks in the keel of the boat. Yet thereafter, we set to
sea, and for some space had fair winds, till we were between three and
four hundred leagues from Ireland, and no nearer the banks of
Newfoundland than any place in Europe. But if ever the Lord spoke by his
winds and other dispensations, it was made evident to us, that it was
not his will that we should go to New England. For we met with a mighty
heavy rain from the northwest, which did break our rudder, which we got
mended by the skill and courage of Captain Andrew Agnew, a godly
passenger; and tore our foresail, five or six of our champlets, and a
great beam under the gunner's room door broke. Seas came in over the
round house, and broke a plank or two on the deck, and wet all that were
between the decks. We sprung a leak, that gave us seven hundred, in the
two pumps, in the half hour glass. Yet we lay at hull a long time to
beat out the storm, till the master and company came one morning and
told us that it was impossible to hold out any longer, and although we
beat out that storm, we might be sure in that season of the year, we
would foregather with one or two more of that sort before we could reach
New England.
"During all this time,
amidst such fears and dangers, the most part of the passengers were very
cheerful and confident; yea, some in prayer had expressed such hopes,
that rather than the Lord would suffer such a company in such sort to
perish, if the ship should break, he would put wings to our shoulders,
and carry us safe ashore. I never in my life found the day so short, as
at all that time, although I slept some nights not above two hours, and
some not at all, but stood most part in the gallery astern the great
cabin, where Mr. Blair and I and our families lay. For in the morning,
by the time every one had been some time alone, and then at prayer in
their several societies, and then at public prayer in the ship, it was
time to go to dinner; after that we would visit our friends or any that
were sick, and then public prayer would come, and after that, supper and
family exercises. Mr. Blair was much of the time sickly, and lay in the
time of storms. I was sometimes sick, and then brother McClelland only
performed duty in the ship. Several of those between deck, being
thronged, were sickly; an aged person and one child died, and were
buried in the sea. One woman, the wife of Michael Calver, of Killinchy
parish, brought forth a child in the ship. I baptized it on Sabbath
following, and called him SEADORN."
The report of the master
and company filled them with distress, —the storm was upon them and
before them;—oppression had driven them from Ireland, and waited their
return. After prayer, and long and anxious consultation, they agreed to
return; trusting in the good providence of God for their future welfare.
The next morning as soon as the day dawned, the ship was turned, and
they made for Ireland. On the third of November, after a prosperous
sail, they came to anchor in Lockfergus, the place of their departure,
after an absence of about eight weeks, cast down under this providence
of God, and anticipating hostility, ridicule and suffering. Having sold
their effects in preparation for the voyage, and having; vested their
property in provision and stock of merchandize, suitable for their
expected residence, they experienced great loss in disposing of their
cargo, and reinvesting the proceeds in things suitable to their
emergency. The persons, they had hired to go with them to assist in
fishing, and building houses, demanded their wages, and were dismissed
at great disadvantage to their employers.
Their reception by their
friends, like their departure, was mingled with "gladness and
sorrow;"—by their enemies with anxiety and disdain. Their friends
commiserated their calamity, and rejoiced in their safety. Their enemies
disliked their return, fearing the consequences, and were for a time
divided in their opinion how they should be treated. Some were for
exercising greater lenity; others poured out their ridicule in no
measured terms, and in ballads, and notes to printed sermons, compared
these oppressed and disheartened people to asses, which the same vessel
had a little before brought from France,—and their religious
ministrations to brayings so sad, that Neptune had stopped their voyage,
and sent them back to Ireland to be improved.
The next year, 1637, the
ministers finding no peace in Ireland, went over to Scotland, and met a
most cordial reception from ministers and people. Mr. Blair was settled
at Ayr; Mr. Livingston at Stranrear; Mr. Hamilton at Dumfries; Mr.
Dunbar at Caldir in Lothian; Mr. McClelland in Kirkcudbright; Mr. Temple
in Carsphain; Mr. Row at Dunfermline; and Mr. Robert Hamilton at
Ballantises. These nine were zealous promoters of the National Covenant,
which was renewed for the third time in Edinburgh, 1st March, 1638. Four
of them were members of the famous assembly that met in Glasgow, in
November of the same year, and took an active part in the doings of that
body, by which Prelacy in Scotland was abolished,—the bishops
deposed,—and Presbytery re-established. Those, who were settled on the
western coast of Scotland, kept up their intercourse with Ulster; and
many of their former hearers removed to Scotland to enjoy their
ministrations. On the stated communions, great numbers would go over
from Ireland to enjoy the privileges they could not have at home; on
one occasion five hundred persons went over from Down to Stranrear, to
receive the sacrament at the hands of Mr. Livingston. At another time,
he baptized twenty children brought over to him, for that purpose, by
their parents, who were unwilling to receive the ordinance from the Prelatical clergy.
The influence which this
company of emigrants exercised on Ireland, and ultimately on America, is
incalculable. It is scarcely possible to conceive, that any situation in
New England could have afforded them such a theatre of action as the
province of Ulster; perhaps none they might have occupied anywhere in
America, even in founding a new State, could have afforded such ample
exhibition of the power of their principles and godly lives. There had
been a revival, a great revival in Ireland, among the emigrants from
Scotland and their children; but as yet, no Presbytery had been formed;
and the influence of the Presbyterian Protestants was circumscribed, and
their principles not yet deep-rooted for permanency. Had this colony
succeeded in finding an agreeable situation in America, in all
probability so many of their friends and countrymen would have followed,
that the North of Ireland would have been deserted to the native Irish,
or the wild beasts, as in the times just preceding the emigration from
Scotland. This company of men, as will be seen in the subsequent
history, were the efficient instruments in the hands of God, of
embodying the Presbyterians of Ireland, of spreading their principles
far and wide, and marshalling congregation after congregation, whose
industry made Ulster blossom as the rose. The Presbyterians became the
balancing power of Ireland. "You need not"— said an intelligent
physician of Petersburg, Va., who is familiar with Ireland, and does not
claim to be a Presbyterian, —"You need not ask when you are to pass from
the Catholic counties to those of the Protestants. You will see and feel
the change in everything around you."
Had the principles of
Usher prevailed, and these men been permitted to labor in peace in their
parishes, it would in all probability have been long before a Presbytery
had been formed in Ireland; and when formed its influence and number of
churches would have been really less than they were in 1642, the year
the first Presbytery met. The intolerance of the Court and their
obedient bishops drove these men out of the churches of the
establishment. When the four set sail in 1636, for America, no faithful
Presbyterian was left; the others were dead, or had retired to Scotland;
all bonds were broken that might have held them in connection with the
Episcopal church. The tempest brought them back to do a work in
Scotland; and the rebellion and consequent massacre, by the native
Irish, opened the way for their successful labors in Ireland, and for
founding the Irish Presbyterian church. The wrath of man, and the
tempests of the ocean, together work the wonderful counsels of Almighty
God.
After the lapse of some
two-thirds of a century, Ulster began to send out swarms to America;
shipload after shipload of men trained to labor and habits of
independence, sought the American shores; year after year the tide
rolled on without once ebbing; and many thousands of these descendants
of the emigrants from Scotland, disdaining to he called Irish, filled
the upper country of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Ulster,
in Ireland, has been an exhaustless hive, a perennial spring; and the
form and fashion of its emigrants were moulded by these men, whom the
storms baffled and sent back to do a work for Ireland and America.
LIVINGSTON and BLI.AIR lived for Posterity.
In 1608, Jamestown, in
Virginia, was founded by a small company from England; in 1620, the May
Flower landed her little band of Puritans on Plymouth rock; in 1636, the
Eaglewing re-landed her company at Lockfergus; and some few years
afterwards King Charles forbade the sailing of the vessel that should
have carried away from England the Spirits of the Revolution. Napoleon,
with all his immense hosts of savans and soldiers, did not, could not so
change the condition of the world, as those four bands that,
collectively, would scarce have formed a regiment in his immense army.
Principles, not men, must govern the world under the Providence of God.
It was well that the
distressed people of Ireland turned their thoughts to America for a
resting place; it was better that they embarked for the wilderness, as
it manifested an enterprise equal to the emergency; but it was better
still that God's wise providence sent them back to labor for Ireland,
and shut them up to the work; and last, it was best of all, that they
laid the foundation of that church which may claim to be the mother of
the American Presbyterian Church, the worthy child of a worthy mother. |
