Early Developments in Ireland
In 1644 the Solemn League and Covenant was brought to Ireland
and subscribed to by many thousands in areas where the Scottish presence
was strongest. In the 1640s and 1650s many Presbyterian
ministers who held to the Covenants were appointed to parishes in
Ireland. In 1661, nearly all of these ministers were dismissed from their
positions on their refusal to conform to the episcopal form of church
government. Most of them continued in their respective localities,
ministering to their congregations, despite, on occasion, considerable
state opposition.
By the later part of the seventeenth century a majority of Presbyterians
in Ireland
had come to a position on the Covenants which could be described as
‘respectful remembrance’. That is, they believed that the Covenants had
been important documents, but were no longer perpetually binding on them
or their descendants. On the other hand, a minority of Presbyterians
continued to believe in the continuing obligation of the Covenants and
from them today’s Irish Covenanters or Reformed Presbyterians descend.
Many individuals and families from Scotland
had found refuge in the north of Ireland during the Killing Times,
strengthening numerically the position of the Covenanters on the island.
Among the refugees was Alexander Peden who has associations with a
number of places in Ulster, but most especially with the Glenwherry
district of County Antrim. Another individual of importance in the
Covenanter story in the late seventeenth century was the Rev. David
Houston. His ministry to Irish Covenanters, which seems to have been
mainly focused on Antrim and Down, ended in 1696.