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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 December 2018
This article examines the Church of Ireland’s relationship with Scots Presbyterians after the Restoration, focusing on the churchmen’s regular complaints against the ‘disorderly’ practices of the Presbyterian communities in Ireland. The established church leaders spoke of the threat of political and social disorder from the Presbyterians, and they repeatedly targeted the spontaneous ex tempore prayer and preaching practised by Scottish ministers in order to illustrate their concerns. This article uncovers the theological roots of these apparently civic complaints to explain their ubiquity and vehemence. It argues that the churchmen feared that such uncontrolled, unscripted prayer could lead to blasphemy and provoke the wrath of God on the nation, thereby triggering war and unrest such as they had experienced in the preceding decades. In their view, there was little difference between holding to an improperly ordered church hierarchy and worship practice, and forcing this disorder on the state. By illustrating the links between theology, ecclesiology and the potential for political sedition as they were understood by Restoration churchmen, this article demonstrates the importance of theological nuance for clarifying the complex relationship between Ireland’s two largest Protestant denominations in the seventeenth century.
1 Sheridan, William, S. Pauls confession of faith, or, a brief account of his religion in a sermon preach’d at St. Warbroughs church in Dublin, March 22, 1684/5 (Dublin, 1685), p. 11 Google Scholar .
2 William Sheridan (1636–1711), bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh from 1682, was deprived for nonjuring by 1692. See John Bergin, ‘Sheridan, William (1636–1711)’, in D.I.B.
3 When Sheridan published his sermon in response to the political and social backlash he received following its initial delivery, it carried endorsements from his fellow churchmen Anthony Dopping (1643–97), bishop of Kildare from 1679 and of Meath from 1682, and William King (1650–1729), who became bishop of Derry in 1691 and archbishop of Dublin in 1703, and at the time of Sheridan’s sermon was chancellor of St Patrick’s Cathedral and rector of St Werburgh’s parish in Dublin. See James McGuire, ‘Dopping, Anthony (1643–97)’ and Philip O’Regan, ‘King, William (1650–1729)’, in D.I.B.
4 Discussing the forces that shaped the arc of the seventeenth century, Jonathan Scott argues, ‘In their most destabilising form these arrived in Stuart England through central Europe in 1618. The troubles by which Charles I’s monarchy would be overwhelmed were given their immediate force by the Thirty Years War.’ (Jonathan Scott, England’s troubles: seventeenth-century English political instability in European context (Cambridge, 2000), p. 5.) John Morrill is even more explicit when he states, ‘The English Civil War was not the first European revolution: it was the last of the wars of religion.’ (John Morrill, ‘The religious context of the English Civil War’ in Richard Cust and Ann Hughes (eds), The English Civil War (London, 1997), p. 176.)
5 Connolly, S. J., Religion, law, and power: the making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford, 1992), p. 24 Google Scholar .
6 Tim Harris argues that ‘This conditioned the Restoration regime’s attitude towards questions of security, and helps explain why there was a desire to have a reliable, professional army in all three kingdoms to prevent any possible rumblings, why the authorities were so concerned about the problem of dissent (since most of the radicals were dissenters), and why there was a tendency to take an unduly harsh approach to the suppression of crowd unrest if there was ever the slightest suspicion that republican elements might be involved.’ (Tim Harris, Restoration: Charles II and his kingdoms, 1660–1685 (London, 2005), p. 50.)
7 J. C. D. Clark, English society, 1660–1832: religion, ideology and politics during the ancien régime (2nd ed., Cambridge, 2000), p. 46.
8 The ambiguous position of English Dissent at the Restoration is considered in Spurr, John, ‘From puritanism to Dissent, 1660–1700’ in Christopher Durston and Jacqueline Eales (eds), The culture of English puritanism, 1560–1700 (Basingstoke, 1996), pp 234–265 CrossRefGoogle Scholar . For the Irish Presbyterian perspective, see Westerkamp, Marilyn J., Triumph of the laity: Scots-Irish piety and the Great Awakening, 1625–1760 (Oxford, 1988), pp 15–72 Google Scholar ; Greaves, Richard L., God’s other children: Protestant nonconformists and the emergence of denominational churches in Ireland, 1660–1700 (Stanford, California, 1997), pp 159–248 Google Scholar ; Kilroy, Phil, Protestant Dissent and controversy in Ireland, 1660–1714 (Cork, 1994), pp 15–59 Google Scholar .
9 Key works on religion and social order in Ireland include Connolly, Religion, law, and power; Barnard, T. C., A new anatomy of Ireland: the Irish Protestants, 1649–1770 (London, 2003)Google Scholar ; Connolly, S. J., Divided kingdom: Ireland, 1630–1800 (Oxford, 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Ohlmeyer, Jane H., Making Ireland English: the Irish aristocracy in the seventeenth century (London, 2012)Google Scholar ; Brady, Ciaran and Ohlmeyer, Jane (eds), British interventions in early modern Ireland (Cambridge, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Boran, Elizabethanne and Gribben, Crawford (eds), Enforcing Reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550–1700 (Aldershot, 2006)Google Scholar . Notable exceptions that do consider the interplay of theology and questions of social order for the pre-Restoration period include Ford, Alan, The Protestant Reformation in Ireland, 1590–1641 (Frankfurt am Main, 1987)Google Scholar ; Gribben, Crawford, God’s Irishmen: theological debates in Cromwellian Ireland (Oxford, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar .
10 One solution for comprehension at the Restoration was a vision drawn up by the Irish bishop James Ussher, explored in William M. Abbott, ‘James Ussher and the “Ussherian” episcopacy, 1640–1656: the primate and his reduction manuscript’ in Albion, xxii (1990), pp 237–59.
11 ‘Angels look down, and Joy to see, / Like that above, a Monarchie. / Angels look down, and Joy to see, / like that above, an Hierarchie’, sang the choir in the anthem composed for the mass consecration in 1661 ( Loftus, Dudley, The proceedings observed in order to, and in the consecration of the twelve bishops, at St. Patricks Church, Dublin, on Sunday the 27 of January 1660 (London, 1661), p. 7)Google Scholar .
12 Hinde, Samuel, A sermon preach’t before the right honourable the lord mayor of the city of Dublin, and the rest of the society of the city, and county palatine of Chester, and of the county palatine of Cheshire (Dublin, 1672), p. 29 Google Scholar . Hinde was one of the king’s chaplains during the Restoration period.
13 Jones, Henry, A sermon preached at the consecration of the Right Reverend Father in God Ambrose Lord Bishop of Kildare in Christ-Church, Dublin, June 29, 1667 (Dublin, 1667), p. 39 Google Scholar . Jones (1605–1682), of an established Church of Ireland family, collaborated with the Cromwellian government while remaining a staunch episcopalian, and bishop of Clogher, in the 1650s. After the Restoration he was named bishop of Meath. See Aidan Clarke, ‘Jones, Henry (1605–82)’, in D.I.B.
14 Harris, Restoration, pp 112–13.
15 This shift from a possible presbyterian national settlement to a fully episcopalian one over the course of 1660 is detailed in J. I. McGuire, ‘The Dublin Convention, the Protestant community and the emergence of an ecclesiastical settlement in 1660’ in Art Cosgrove and J. I. McGuire (eds), Parliament and community: Historical Studies XIV (Belfast, 1983), pp 121–46.
16 McGuire, James, ‘Ormond and Presbyterian nonconformity, 1660–63’ in Kevin Herlihy (ed.), The politics of Irish Dissent, 1650–1800 (Dublin, 1997), p. 42 Google Scholar ; McGuire, ‘Dublin Convention’, p. 138.
17 Jeremy Taylor to George Lane, 19 Dec. 1660 (Bodl., Carte MS 45, f. 44). Taylor (1613–1667) was consecrated bishop of Down and Connor in 1661; see James McGuire, ‘Taylor, Jeremy (1613–67)’, in D.I.B.
18 Thomas Price, the incoming bishop of Kildare, was not consecrated until March 1661, at the same time that the death of Henry Leslie, newly translated from Down & Connor to Meath, set off another round of diocesan appointments.
19 This is a lacuna I hope to address at least in part in my dissertation, currently in progress, on the use of religious belief in the construction and maintenance of identity among the Church of Ireland hierarchy from 1660 to 1689.
20 John Bramhall (1594–1663), an Englishman, was named bishop of Derry in 1633 under the influence of William Laud, and was instrumental in bringing the Laudian reforms to the Church of Ireland. After spending much of the 1640s and 1650s in exile on the continent, he was named archbishop of Armagh in 1661, shortly before his death. See John McCafferty, ‘Bramhall, John (1594–1663)’, in D.I.B.
21 McGuire, James, ‘Policy and patronage: the appointment of bishops, 1660–61’ in Alan Ford, James McGuire, and Kenneth Milne (eds), As by law established: the Church of Ireland since the Reformation (Dublin, 1995), pp 112–119 Google Scholar .
22 McGuire, ‘Ormond and Presbyterian nonconformity’, pp 41–2.
23 Jeremy Taylor’s prolific written output notwithstanding. Despite his death in 1667, less than ten years after his arrival in Ireland, he is often assumed to be representative of the Irish Restoration church, as seen for instance in Bolton, F. R., The Caroline tradition of the Church of Ireland, with particular reference to Bishop Jeremy Taylor (London, 1958)Google Scholar . My preliminary research on the Irish episcopate in these years suggests that a much more diverse view of the Irish hierarchy is needed.
24 Gribben, Crawford, The puritan millennium: literature & theology, 1550–1682 (Dublin, 2000), p. 81 Google Scholar ; the theological dynamics that resulted from this Protestant population explosion is explored in Gribben, God’s Irishmen.
25 Tim Harris notes that the Compton survey of 1676, which put the total number of English Dissenters at about 5%, was ‘a serious underestimate’ because it only counted those who had officially separated from the Church of England and not occasional conformists, as most Dissenters in England were. However, even in urban areas ‘with particularly heavy concentrations’ of Dissenters, they never totalled much more than one third of the population, and even in London were only about 15%–20% of the total population (Harris, Restoration, pp 28–9); Toby Barnard gives the most detailed breakdown of Protestants to Catholics in Ireland, with Protestants numbering just over a quarter of the population in 1732, though this was after waves of migration from Scotland in the 1690s, and it does not distinguish between Presbyterians, members of the Church of Ireland, and others (Barnard, A new anatomy of Ireland, pp 1–3). Drawing on the estimates of Sir William Petty, the approximate percentage for Church of Ireland members in the Restoration period is perhaps 10% of the island’s total population of about 2 million, with higher concentrations in Dublin and other cities of the south and east. See L. M. Cullen, ‘Population trends in seventeenth-century Ireland’ in Economic and Social Review, vi, no. 2 (1975), pp 149–65; Harris, Restoration, p. 30.
26 McGuire, ‘Ormond and Presbyterian nonconformity’, p. 43.
27 A tension explored in Spurr, ‘Puritanism to Dissent’, pp 234–47.
28 John Spurr, English puritanism, 1603–1689 (Basingstoke, 2002), p. 140; McGuire, ‘Ormond and Presbyterian nonconformity’, p. 41. The hesitancy of the government was certainly not helped by the presence, especially early on, of men whose sympathies lay either partially or entirely with the idea of a presbyterian-style national church, the dynamics of which are discussed in McGuire, ‘Dublin Convention’.
29 McGuire, ‘Ormond and Presbyterian nonconformity’, p. 51.
30 Marilyn Westerkamp has traced the beginnings of the Great Awakening revivals in the middle colonies of North America in the eighteenth century to the revivals among the Scots-Irish in Ulster in the 1620s and 1630s. The information in this paragraph is largely taken from Westerkamp, Triumph of the laity, pp 15–73.
31 From the notes pertaining to the ‘prayer of illumination’ that followed the general confession and psalm during the Sunday morning service: John Calvin, La forme des prières ecclésiastiques ([Geneva], 1542). John McCallum has argued for ‘the very high value placed on the reading of the word [in the prayer book] even by kirk sessions which had experienced a half century of regular preaching: it was necessary, not a temporary substitute for preaching’ (John McCallum, Reforming the Scottish parish: the Reformation in Fife, 1560–1640 (Farnham, Surrey, 2010), p. 86).
32 Greaves, God’s other children, pp 135, 378.
33 The gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:1–31.
34 Acts 2:1–43.
35 Henry Leslie (1580–1661) became bishop of Down and Connor in 1635. He was appointed to the see of Meath at the Restoration, but died shortly thereafter. See Alan Ford, ‘Leslie, Henry (1580–1661)’, in D.I.B.
36 Leslie, Henry, A discourse of praying with the Spirit, and with the understanding (London, 1660), pp 13–14 Google Scholar .
37 Ibid., p. 13.
38 Lingard (d. 1670) was dean of Lismore at the time of the sermon quoted here; an Englishman, he was ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1621. See David Murphy, ‘Lingard (Lyngard), Richard (d. 1670)’, in D.I.B.
39 Lingard, Richard, A sermon preached before the king at White-Hall, July 26, 1668, in defence of the liturgy of our church (London, 1668), pp 13–14 Google Scholar .
40 A description of an orderly creation can be found in The whole works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., lord bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, ed. Reginald Heber and Charles Page Eden (10 vols, London, 1850), viii, 499.
41 Hackett, Thomas, A sermon preached before the convocation of the clergy in Ireland at the cathedral church of S. Patricks in Dublin, May 9, Anno 1661, at the time of their general receiving the h. communion (London, 1662), p. 6 Google Scholar . Hackett (d. 1697) would be appointed bishop of Down and Connor in 1672, though he would be deprived in 1694 for chronic absenteeism and resulting neglect and scandal within his dioceses. See John Bergin, ‘Hackett, Thomas (d. 1697)’, in D.I.B.
42 Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, p. 13.
43 Ibid., p. 5.
44 Edward Wolley, Altare evangelicum. A sermon preached at Christ-Church in Dublin, on the 27th of April before His Excellency Arthur earl of Essex, lord lieutenant general, and general governour of the kingdom of Ireland (Dublin, 1673), p. 14, referencing 1 Corinthians 14:40. Wolley (1604–1684), an Englishman, was appointed to the sees of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh in 1665. See Sean Kelsey, ‘Wolley, Edward (bap. 1604, d. 1684)’, in O.D.N.B.
45 Lingard, A Sermon preached before the king, pp 25–6.
46 Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, p. 15; Jeremy Taylor made a similar point in the ‘introductory letter’ (not paginated) to this same work.
47 Spurr, John, The Restoration Church of England, 1646–1689 (London, 1991), pp 20–24 CrossRefGoogle Scholar .
48 ‘What would these Men be at? Would they manage all by immediate Inspirations like the Apostles? Then let them speak with Tongues, reveal Secrets, design Ministers, decide Controversies by Inspiration, and we will admit of their Prayers in behalf of the Church: or if they cannot give these proofs of Christs speaking in them, let them at least demonstrate by distinctive Characters, that their words cannot issue from wit, or passion, or natural Enthusiasm; but are of a different stamp from that fervent, confident, fluent pouring out of Divine things, which hath been observed in the worst of Men.’ (Lingard, A sermon preached before the king, p. 26.)
49 Ibid.
50 Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, p. 30.
51 Ibid., p. 1.
52 Sheridan, S. Pauls confession of faith, p. 16.
53 Taylor, ‘Introductory letter’, in Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, unpaginated.
54 Lingard, A sermon preached before the king, p. 28.
55 Parry, John, Nehemiah, or, the excellent governour being a discourse delivered at the Cathedrall of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, Aug. 1669, before the Right Honourable Thomas earl of Ossory (Oxford, 1670), p. 16 Google Scholar . Parry (d. 1677), older brother to Benjamin (below), served as chaplain to the duke of Ormond and was the dean of Christ Church Cathedral at the time of this discourse. He was made bishop of Ossory in 1672. See Terry Clavin, ‘John Parry (d. 1677)’ in ‘Parry, Edward (d. 1650)’, in D.I.B.
56 Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, pp 4–5.
57 Westerkamp, Triumph of the laity, p. 49.
58 The works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Ezekiel Hopkins, D.D., successively lord bishop of Raphoe and Derry. Now first collected. Arranged and revised, with a life of the author, and a copious index (4 vols, London, 1809), i, 506. Hopkins (1634–1690), an Englishman, was made bishop of Raphoe in 1671 and of Derry in 1681. See John Bergin, ‘Hopkins, Ezekiel (1634–90)’, in D.I.B. The specification of hierarchy ‘when available’ was an important distinction for the Irish churchmen, who wished to condemn Presbyterians and other Dissenters at home while maintaining a sense of communion with non-episcopal foreign churches such as those in France. See also Kathryn Rose Sawyer, ‘True church, national church, minority church: episcopacy and authority in the restored Church of Ireland’ in Church History, lxxxv, no. 2 (June 2016), pp 236–7.
59 Sheridan, S. Pauls confession of faith, p. 16.
60 Samuel Foley (1655–1695) became bishop of Down and Connor a few months before his early death. At the time of this sermon he was vicar of Finglas. See Linde Lunney, ‘Foley, Samuel (1655–95)’, in D.I.B.
61 Foley, Samuel, A sermon preached at the primary visitation of His Grace Francis Lord Arch-Bishop of Dublin (London, 1683), p. 31 Google Scholar .
62 Edward Worth, a puritan-leaning minister made bishop of Killaloe at the Restoration, is one clear example of this conforming attitude. Henry Jones’s collaboration with the Cromwellian regime did not prevent his appointment to the see of Meath after Henry Leslie’s death in 1661. See McGuire, ‘Policy and patronage’, pp 115, 117; Terry Clavin, ‘Worth, Edward (d. 1669)’, in D.I.B.
63 Taylor, ‘Introductory letter’ in Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, unpaginated.
64 Foley, A sermon preached at the primary visitation, p. 11.
65 Parry, Benjamin, More than conquerour a sermon preach’t on the martyrdom of King Charles the I, Jan, 30, at Christ-Church, Dublin: before His Excellency Arthur Earl of Essex, lord lieutenant general and general governour of the kingdom of Ireland (Dublin, 1673), p. 26 Google Scholar .
Parry (1634–78), made bishop of Ossory a few months before his death in 1678, preached this sermon while he was prebend of St Michan’s, Christ Church Cathedral. See Terry Clavin, ‘Benjamin Parry (1634–78)’ in ‘Parry, Edward (d. 1650)’, in D.I.B; also Sawyer, ‘True church’, pp 239–40.
66 The fact that the Dublin parliament never passed its own version of the bill for the suppression of the prayer book did not make much difference in the lived experience of the established clergy, who complained that they were ‘effectually debarred from our Churches, and the exercise of our Ministery by your Honours Injunction and Command’, though this fact was later to be used as proof of the Irish church’s unbroken apostolic succession: A declaration of the Protestant clergie of the city of Dublin, shewing the reasons why they cannot consent to the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer, and comply with the Directory ([London], 1647), p. 1; Bolton, Caroline tradition of the Church of Ireland, p. 22.
67 Parry, The excellent governour, p. 30.
68 Sheridan, S. Pauls confession of faith, p. 6.
69 The Irish Articles of 1615 had recognized this reality as well, in the curt language of article 66: ‘Faith given is to be kept, even with Heretics and Infidels’.
70 Mossom, Robert, A narrative panegyrical of the life, sickness, and death, of George ... lord bishop of Derry in Ireland as it was delivered at his funerals in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (commonly Called Christ Church) in Dublin on Friday the 12th of January, anno Domini 1665/6 (Dublin, 1666), p. 7 Google Scholar . Mossom (d. 1679), an Englishman, came to Ireland to take up church preferments at the Restoration, and was dean of Christ Church Cathedral at the time of this sermon. He succeeded George Wilde, subject of this funeral sermon, as bishop of Derry in 1666. See Terry Clavin, ‘Mossom, Robert (d. 1679)’, in D.I.B.
71 Leslie, Discourse of praying with the Spirit, p. 1.
72 Works of Ezekiel Hopkins, i, 345–6.
73 Ibid., i, 344; see also Jones, A sermon preached at the consecration, pp 37–8.
74 Parry, More than conqueror, p. 36.
75 Ibid., pp 27–8.
76 Greaves, God’s other children, p. 378. I would like to thank the Church of Ireland Historical Society for awarding a shorter version of this article the W. G. Neely Prize (2016), and, in particular, Professor David Hayton for his helpful suggestions in preparing the article for publication.
