Labour in the West of Ireland

Résumé du livre

Presbyterianism was established in Ulster on a firm organizational basis in the 1650s, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. It was sufficiently strong to resist persecution after the Restoration of Charles II and achieved some recognition by the state after the Glorious Revolution of 1689. It was in a sense, a state within a state. Its Synods, Presbyteries and Sessions were courts in which cases concerning ministers and laymen could be heard. Its ministers and lay elders met regularly throughout the year to decide affairs of the community. For two centuries there were numerous controversial pamphlets relating to theological disputes among Ulster Presbyterians, many of which had important political implications as well. At the end of the 18th century, a group of them, representing all shades of theological opinion, made a bid to seize power in Ireland in the name of the French Revolutionary principles.