THE IRISH CHURCH. The history of Presby terianism in Scotland is also essentially its his tory in Ireland. The first presbytery in Ireland was organized in 1642 by Scotch chaplains ac companying the army sent there to subdue the `Great Rebellion' of that period. The Presby terian population increased by immigration from Scotland. Early in the eighteenth century doc trinal differences began to appear, and in 1726 a schism took place. Those who would not sub scribe to the Westminster Confession formed themselves into the Presbytery of Antrim. The orthodox body was called the Synod of Ulster. Scotch Seceders, coming over in the middle of the eighteenth century, did much to maintain purity of doctrine in the northern provinces. Owing to laxity of doctrine in the Irish Church, the Covenanters made steady progress. and in 1792 their first Irish presbytery was formed. In 1S35 the Synod of Ulster endeavored to stem the tide of lax doctrine by requiring subscrip tion to the Confession of Faith. The grounds of separation between them and the Seceders being thus removed, a union was happily consummated in 1S40. The General Assembly of the Presby
terian Church of Ireland consisted at its organi zation of 433 congregations. It has steadily increased and now numbers nearly seven hundred ministers, with more than one hundred thousand communicants.
The Presbyterian. Synod of Seceders in Ireland was formed in 1818 by a union between the two sections of the Scottish Secession Church in Ire land, the Burghers and the Anti-Burghers. The division arose in Scotland in 1747 in regard to the propriety of an oath administered to the burgesses which pledged the taker to support "the true religion presently professed with in the realm and authorized by the laws thereof." Those who defended the taking of the oath were called the Burghers; those who con demned it the Anti-Burghers. This controversy spread to Ireland. At the time of the union of these• two bodies there were 97 ministers. In 1840 the Synod of Seceders united with the Synod of Ulster. taking the title of the Presby terian Church in Ireland.