THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND AND AMERICA.
James Dodson
CHAPTER IV.
IN tracing the growth of the Church, we have seen that very intimate relations existed between the Scotch Presbytery and the Congregations of Covenanters in Ireland and America. These Congregations regarded the Church in Scotland as the Mother Church, and in their difficulties looked to her for counsel and guidance.
In 1774, Mr Cuthbertson having been joined in America by the Rev. Messrs Matthew Lind and John Dobbin, from Ireland, a Presbytery was constituted there, and from that time it exercised an independent jurisdiction. At a meeting of the Scotch Presbytery in April, 1775, a letter from the brethren in America was read, bearing that they had “constituted themselves
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into a Presbyterial capacity, upon the footing of the Reformation Cause and Testimony, under the designation of the Reformed Presbytery in America,” and adopted substantially the same terms of communion as were used in Scotland. In 1784, an account having been received by the Presbytery of a union in America of both sides of the Secession and the Reformed Presbytery, it was agreed that the Presbytery should give some judicial judgment thereon, and in August of the following year, a Committee was appointed to write to the ministers in America concerning it. The same Committee, in 1786, was instructed to write again to the ministers and also to some of the people who had applied for advice. The minutes of Presbytery do not record any final decision regarding the union, but the Scotch Presbytery seems to have disapproved of it, and to have ceased correspondence with the united church. In 1789, Mr James Reid, minister in Galloway, having been advised by his physician, after a severe illness, to take a voyage, was asked to go to South Carolina and introduce himself to the people there. He sailed for America on 24th September, and after being absent for about a year he appeared at a meeting of Presbytery in November, 1790, and gave an account of his kind reception by the
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people, and his labours among them. He presented a call from the people to himself, or any other of the ministers in Scotland. The Galloway Congregation expressed great unwillingness to part with Mr Reid, and he declined the call. It does not appear to have been offered to any other person.
In August, 1790, a Mr M‘Garragh, who had been ordained by the Committee in Ireland as a missionary, sailed for America, and settled there. On 4th June, 1792, at a meeting of Presbytery at Wishawtown, Mr James King was ordained as a missionary to America, and he was instructed, along with Mr M‘Garragh and the elders, to constitute themselves in a judicial capacity, to judge and determine all matters, and to send to the Presbytery here, regular accounts of their procedure. Mr King sailed from Greenock in the Brigantine “Samuel” to Charlestown, South Carolina, on 10th July, 1792. In November, 1793, the Presbytery, at the request of the Churches in America, appointed a Committee to consider an alteration of the terms of Communion; and in the following year the Presbytery, on the recommendation of that Committee, agree to certain alterations “to suit the state of the Church there.” The clerk was instructed to com-
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municate the terms of Communion, so amended, to the American Presbytery.
The only remaining notice of the Church in America to the close of the century is in connection with a call to the Rev. James Reid from some people about New York, presented on 18th November, 1795. Mr Reid resolved to remain with his people in Galloway, and declined the call. From other sources we learn that the Rev. James M‘Inney went from Ireland to America in 1793, and that in the spring of 1798, he and the other ministers who had preceded him formed themselves into a Presbytery under the designation of the Reformed Presbytery of the United States of North America. That Church thereafter continued steadily to grow and prosper, and it still maintains its position as a protesting, Covenanting Church.
The Church in Ireland occasioned great and long continued anxiety to the Scotch Presbytery.
On 3rd March, 1773, Mr Robert Young, formerly a Probationer under the Anti-Burgher Associate Synod, applied for admission to the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland. He was cordially received, and for some time preached throughout the Church. At a meeting of Presbytery on 6th April, 1775, Mr Fairley stated that he had received an open call from some
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people in the island of St. John’s, in the Bay of St. Lawrence. This call being sustained, and Mr Young’s name inserted, was presented to him, and next day he intimated his acceptance of it, on condition that if he were not suitably received and encouraged by these people, he should be at liberty either to return to his native land, or to repair to the mainland of America. Mr Young was accordingly ordained on the 17th May; but he found it impossible for some time to obtain a passage to St. John’s in a suitable vessel, and in the interval he went to Ireland, where he preached with acceptance, and he was ultimately settled there as minister of one of the Congregations. This settlement was the cause of much dispeace.
In 1780, Mr Stavely, from Ireland, attended a meeting of Presbytery, and craved their aid. He stated that differences had arisen between him and his co-Presbyter in Ireland, Mr Young, and these had become so serious, that they would not meet together, and the Irish Presbytery had practically ceased to exist. He was told that the Scotch Church could only assist him on the footing of a regular accession by him to this Presbytery. Mr Stavely expressed his willingness to comply, and at a meeting in March, 1780, Mr Stavely and his five Congregations were
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taken under charge of the Presbytery. Messrs Courtass and Thorburn were appointed to go over to Ireland to dispense ordinances, meet the ministers and people, and endeavour to restore order among the Churches. This they endeavoured to do, but they sadly report that “a sort of agreement between Messrs Stavely and Young was made, but they were doubtful of its continuance, as neither party appears to be very hearty in it.” Three young men—Messrs Alexander, M‘Inney, and Duff—presented themselves to the Commissioners to Ireland for license, and were taken on trial. Two of these—Messrs M‘Inney and Alexander—came to Scotland, and were licensed on the 13th June, 1781. They were instructed to preach in Scotland three Sabbaths, and then to go to Ireland and preach by turns in all the vacant Congregations.
In 1782, Mr Stavely, having applied to the Presbytery for instructions, was authorised to dispense the Communion, “provided he call in the assistance of Mr Young and the young men.” In 1783, in compliance with a petition from several Congregations in Ireland craving a supply of “actual ministers” and the moderation of calls, Messrs M‘Millan of Sandhills and Mr Steven were appointed to visit the people and to comply with their request; but no record of
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their visit appears to have been preserved. In November, 1784, and also in November, 1785, and February, 1787, an account of the proceedings of the Committee in Ireland was received and read by the Presbytery, and satisfaction is expressed with what had been done.
In November, 1787, the Rev. Robert Young, minister, appeared at a meeting of Presbytery, and entered a number of very serious charges against the Committee of Presbytery in Ireland, and the ministers and people there. A copy of the minute containing these charges was transmitted to the Irish Committee, and parties were summoned to attend the next meeting, when the matter would be gone into. Great delay occurred in getting the parties to appear, but at length on the 18th of March, 1789, Mr Young was suspended from the ministry for contumacy in not appearing when summoned; for calumniating the ministers in Ireland when he last appeared; for acting independently of his brethren in Ireland; and for sinful and improper conduct. In March following, Mr Young was declared to be no longer a ministerial or Christian member of the Church. The Irish Jonah being thus cast out, the Committee there was able in November, 1792, to report “a continuation of harmony.” The Presbytery, after recording this
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satisfactory report, agreed to recommend the Committee to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, and thenceforward the supervision of the churches in Ireland by the Presbytery in Scotland ceased. In 1795, however, a deputation was appointed to go to Ireland to advise with the Presbytery there “about their duty in these trying times.”
On several occasions the Presbytery had communications from Presbyterians in Cumberland, and some of the ministers visited them, enquiry having previously been made whether the ministers could “preach in England with safety without having a license from the Bishop.” But the attempt to spread the church across the English borders proved unsuccessful.
In the Highlands, one Congregation was organized. In May, 1794, Mr Mason was instructed to go to the Highlands and ordain as elders the persons chosen, if approved. This he did during the summer, and constituted the Congregation of Lorn, which, although always small, continued to exist as long as the Reformed Presbyterian Church retained its separate standing.