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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
In Irish Presbyterianism Henry Cooke is commonly regarded as the champion of orthodoxy. Was it not he who drove the Arians out of the Synod of Ulster in 1830? The purpose of this paper is not to examine the theological issues involved, but rather to try to discover the real cause of the schism.
The Reverend J. Smethurst (Moreton Hampstead) visited the North of Ireland during the autumn of 1821. The traditional picture is that of Cooke routing the Unitarian Smethurst in Killyleagh (where Cooke was minister) and pursuing him from place to place in his zeal for orthodoxy. This, however, fails to take into account an important aspect of Smethurst’s campaign. He writes,
I feel persuaded that there is considerable inquiry on religious subjects amongst the Dissenters in the North of Ireland, and that liberal opinions are fast gaining ground amongst them... One of the greatest obstacles in the way of their doing so, is the view they have been accustomed to take of the Christian religion, as being a system upheld solely by its union with the secular power. If they could see it free from this connexion, they would view it in a far more favourable light, and the most formidable of their prejudices would be removed. Even amongst the Dissenters the natural tendency of the most remote connexion of this kind is too obvious to escape notice. The Presbyterian Church of Ireland has long been considered as a sort of demi-establishment. And though its connexion with the civil power is not so close as that of the Church of England, yet the union, as far as it goes, is no less injurious.
page no 323 note 1 Crawford, R. G., ‘A critical examination of nineteenth century non-subscribing presbyterian theology in Ireland ‘, PhD thesis (1944) Queen’s University, Belfast Google Scholar.
page no 323 note 2 ‘Unitarian Fund Report, 1822’, The Christian Reformer VIII (London 1822) p 220.
page no 324 note 1 Porter, [J. L.] [Life and Times of Henry Cooke] (Belfast 1875) p 51 Google Scholar. For the Rebellion of 1798 see below.
page no 324 note 2 Beckett, J. C., Protestant Dissent in Ireland, 1687-1780 (London 1948) p 31 Google Scholar.
page no 324 note 3 Porter pp 1-2. [J. and McConnell, S. G.] Fasti [of the Irish Presbyterian Church] (Belfast 1936-43) p 195 Google Scholar. Both Porter and McConnell treat Cooke as the younger son of John Cooke and Jane Howe, but R. L. Marshall, ‘Henry Cooke’ (MS unpublished lecture) makes out a good case for his being the illegitimate son of the local lord of the manor, Colonel William Melevera, and Mrs McCook (née Howe) who worked in the house.
page no 324 note 4 Stewart, A. T. Q., ‘ The transformation of presbyterian radicalism in the north of Ireland, 1792-1825’, MA thesis (1956) Queen’s University, Belfast Google Scholar. McDowell, R. B., Irish Public Opinion, 1750-1800 (London 1944)Google Scholar.
page no 325 note 1 Porter, p 12.
page no 325 note 2 Plowden, F., An Historical Disquisition concerning the rise, progress and effects of the Orange Societies in Ireland (Dublin 1810) p 66 Google Scholar. This was the origin of the ‘Glasgow Irish’ for when it was impossible to incorporate such numbers into their industry the Presbyterians of Belfast wrote to their co-religionists in Glasgow to help them out. This they did by organising work for these Roman Catholic refugees in Glasgow and Paisley. See Plowden, F., History of Ireland from the Union, 1801-1810 (Dublin 1811) I, intro and p 67 Google Scholar.
page no 325 note 3 R[ecords of the] G[eneral] S[ynod of] U[lster, 1691-1820], (Belfast 1890) III, p 397. If after 1820 RGSU with year.
page no 325 note 4 [The] N[orthern] W[hig] 24 April 1829.
page no 325 note 5 Marshall, R. L., ‘Blackmouth’, The Presbyterian Herald, no 26 (Belfast 1945) pp 14–16 Google Scholar.
page no 326 note 1 Castlereagh to Addington 21 July 1802, [Memoirs and Correspondence of] Castlereagh (London 1848-53) IV, p 224 Google Scholar. Jamieson, [J.] [History of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution] (Belfast 1959) p 38 Google Scholar.
page no 326 note 2 Correspondence of ’Charles, first Marquis Cornwallis,ed Ross, C. (London 1864) III, pp.100-2Google Scholar.
page no 326 note 3 Castlereagh III, pp 172-4.
page no 326 note 4 Reid, [J. S.] [History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland] (London 1853) III, pp 512-15Google Scholar. Reíd only completed two volumes, the third was edited by W. D. Killen from papers Reid had collected.
page no 326 note 5 Duke of Portland to the lord-lieutenant 31 August 1799. Castlereagh II, p 384.
page no 327 note 1 RGSU III, pp 270-2. Castlereagh to Addington 21 July 1802. Castlereagh IV, pp 223-6.
page no 327 note 2 Reid, p 519, n 66.
page no 327 note 3 Cornwallis to Duke of Portland, 29 July 1799. Castlereagh 11, pp 364-5.
page no 327 note 4 RGSU III, pp 192-3. Reid III, pp 491-3.
page no 327 note 5 Jamieson, pp 203-7.
page no 327 note 6 RGSU III, p 421.
page no 328 note 1 Moody, T. W., ‘ Higher Education‘, Ulster since 1800, second series, ed Moody, T. W. and Beckett, J. C. (London 1957) p 194 Google Scholar. Words in brackets added.
page no 328 note 2 Jamieson, pp 203-7.
page no 328 note 3 Porter, p 54. Reid III, p 537.
page no 328 note 4 Castlereagh to Peel 9 November 1816. London, British Museum MS Add. 40181, fol 214. This letter (fols 211-24) outlines Castlereagh’s attitude to the Institution and its relation to the Synod.
page no 328 note 5 Reid III, pp 539-41.
page no 328 note 6 Adair, P., A true narrative of the rise and progress of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, ed Killen, W. D. (Belfast 1866) p 135 Google Scholar. RGSU I, p 34.
page no 328 note 7 RCSU II, p 96.
page no 328 note 8 RGSU I, pp 100, 521-2; III, p 63. Reid III, pp 446-8.
page no 329 note 1 B[elfast] N[ews] L[etter] 6 November 1821; Commercial Chronicle 24 November 1821.
page no 329 note 2 Reid III, pp 552-3.
page no 329 note 3 NW 27 October 1825.
page no 329 note 4 The Christian Reformer XIII (London 1827) p 376.
page no 329 note 5 Porter, p 57.
page no 329 note 6 Ibid p 56.
page no 329 note 7 Ibid p 57.
page no 330 note 1 The Christian Moderator (London 1826) p III.
page no 330 note 2 RGSU 1824, p 10.
page no 330 note 3 [Cooke, H.,] I[llustration and] D[efence of the Rev. Mr] C[ooke’s] E[vidence] (Belfast 1825) p 23 Google Scholar.
page no 330 note 4 RGSU 1824, pp 21-2.
page no 330 note 5 RGSU 1824, p 31.
page no 330 note 6 IDCE, p 23.
page no 330 note 7 NW 8 July 1824.
page no 330 note 8 Porter, p 65.
page no 331 note 1 NW 14 April 1825.
page no 331 note 2 BNL 20 April 1825.
page no 331 note 3 NW 21, 28 April 1825; BNL 22, 26 April 1825. Some of Cooke’s critics were in fact as orthodox as himself, for example, James Thompson, professor of mathematics (IDCE p 29), Samuel Edgar, professor of divinity of Secession Synod (Edgar to Hinks 14 May 1825, RBAI papers), and Samuel Hanna, professor of divinity of Synod of Ulster (IDCE p 33; BNL 10 June 1825).
page no 331 note 4 NW 12 May 1825. BNL 27 May 1825.
page no 331 note 5 NW 12 May 1825.
page no 331 note 6 RGSU 1825, pp 30-1.
page no 331 note 7 NW 7 July 1825.
page no 331 note 8 NW 6, 13, 27 July 1826; James McKnight to Miss Barber 26 August 1825. MS Pres. Hist. Soc, Belfast.
page no 331 note 9 Porter, pp 93-4.
page no 331 note 10 Fourth Report [of the Commissioners of Irish education inquiry], HC 1826-27 (89) XIII, pp 3-26.
page no 331 note 11 Fourth Report, pp 27-9.
page no 332 note 1 Fourth Report, pp 136, 49, 137.
page no 332 note 2 NW 5 July 1827.
page no 332 note 3 NW 12 July 1827.
page no 332 note 4 NW12 July 1827.
page no 332 note 5 RGSU Cookstown 1829, pp 5-30.
page no 332 note 6 Porter, pp 49, 110.
page no 332 note 7 Porter, p 118.
page no 332 note 8 Porter, p 49.
page no 332 note 9 Porter, p 223. Porter’s account of his father-in-law is somewhat glorified, and what is stated follows the information he supplies. On the other hand if Cooke was, in fact, the son of Colonel William Melevera his attitude is more easily explained, because the colonel was assassinated along with a number of the Tipperary militia when serving eviction notices с 1800.
page no 333 note 1 Porter, pp 52-3.
page no 333 note 2 Jamieson, p 38.
page no 333 note 3 Porter, pp 37-8.
page no 333 note 4 RGSU 1824, p 24; 1825, p 30; 1826, p 38.
page no 333 note 5 BNL 7 July 1826.
page no 333 note 6 RGSU 1826, p 38.
page no 333 note 7 Fourth Report, p 155.
page no 334 note 1 BNL 25 August 1829. The BNL gives Robert Gray as minister of Dungiven in error for Scriggan. See Fasti, p 203.
page no 334 note 2 BNL 25 August 1829.
page no 334 note 3 Minutes of Presbytery of Dromore 6 May 1823. MS Box 59 Church House, Belgast.
page no 334 note 4 Minutes of Presbytery of Dromore 22 August 1822. Words in brackets added. See RCSU 1, pp 521-2.
page no 334 note 5 Reid, p 550, n 10.
page no 334 note 6 Minutes of Presbytery of Belfast, 1744-1800. MS Pres. Col., Belfast. Barkley, J.M., The Westminster Formularies in Irish Presbyterianism (Belfast 1956) pp 13–14 Google Scholar.
page no 334 note 7 Minutes of Presbytery of Dromore 8 September 1818.
page no 335 note 1 RGSU, III pp 330, 336, 365. 1830, p 9. Cooke was licensed by the Presbytery of Route (July 1807), ordained in Duneane by the Presbytery of Ballymena (13 November 1808), installed in Donegore by the Presbytery of Templepatrick (22 January 1811) and in Killyleagh by the Presbytery of Dromore (8 September 1818). It has not been possible to trace the Route minutes, but none of the others record his subscribing or report it to the Synod. At his installation in May Street by the Presbytery of Belfast (24 November 1829) his subscription is recorded, and this was duly reported to Synod.
page no 335 note 2 Minutes of Presbytery of Dromore 6 May 1823.
page no 335 note 3 Porter, p 36. Fourth Report, p 146. First Report of the Commissioners of education in Ireland HC 1825 (400) XII, p 821.
page no 335 note 4 BNL 25 August 1829.
page no 335 note 5 Jamieson, J., ‘ The influence of the Rev. Henry Cooke on the political life of Ulstei ‘, M.A. thesis (1952) Queen’s University, Belfast, p 78 Google Scholar.
page no 335 note 6 Latimer, W. T., A History of the Irish Presbyterians (Belfast 1893) pp 192-3Google Scholar.
page no 335 note 7 Cooke to Peel, 20 July 1825. BM MS, Add 40380 fols 147-51.
page no 336 note 1 Porter admits the inaccuracy of this when he says, ‘ During the first quarter of the present century, nine-tenths of the Presbyterians of Ireland were Whigs’, p 224.
page no 336 note 2 Peel to Cooke, 14 August 1825. BM MS Add 40380, fols 178-9.
page no 337 note 1 Fourth Report, pp 826-7.
page no 337 note 2 Cooke to Johnston, 9 June 1827. MS Pres. Hist. Soc., Belfast.
page no 337 note 3 Porter, p 110.
page no 338 note 1 [The] G[reat] P[rotestant] M[eeting in County Down] (Ballymena 1834) pp 12-13.
page no 338 note 2 GPM, p 13.
page no 338 note 3 GPM, p 16.
page no 338 note 4 The Great Protestant Demonstration at Hillsborough (Belfast 1867) p 20.
page no 338 note 5 Minutes of the General Assembly, Belfast 1843, p 224.
page no 338 note 6 Porter, pp 392-3.
page no 338 note 7 Porter, p 395.
page no 339 note 1 RGSU 1836, p 45.
page no 339 note 2 The Christian Unitarian, I-III (Belfast 1862-4); Remonstrant Synod papers. MSS Clerk of Synod, Minutes of Remonstrant Synod, 1853-60.