10 May
1666 A.D. Rev. James Hamilton
Passes—a “Precopalian” (Presbyterian and Episcopalian). Imagine a Reformed Churchman leading an Irish
Anglican worship service with the old Book of Common Prayer. Wonderful.
Mr. Myers tells the story.
Myers,
David T. “May 10: James Hamilton Dies in Ireland.” This
Day in Presbyterian History. 10 May
2014. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/05/may-10-2/.
Accessed 10 May 2014.
May 10: James Hamilton Dies in Ireland
Deposed by Man, but Not By God
They
called them “precopalians,” which strange as it may sound (and spell!),
was defined as Scottish Presbyterians who were leading Anglican
congregations in northern Island, or Ulster. At one time, in the
seventeenth century, there were 27 Presbyterian ministers in churches in
Ulster, all there to pastor the large number of Ulster Scottish families in the
area.
Our
post today deals with the Rev. James Hamilton, who traveled before he was
ordained to Ulster. Even after graduation from the University of Glasgow,
he went to Ireland where his uncle had vast acreage in the northern part of
Ireland. In time, our young man was noticed by a Presbyterian minister by the
name of Robert Blair, who encouraged James to enter the ministry. It was on
March 3, 1626 that James Hamilton was ordained as a minister in the Church of
Ireland by the Irish bishop Robert Echlin. Hamilton began his pastorate in the
Ballywalter Church and stayed there for a decade. The church later on became a
Presbyterian Church, perhaps by the solid doctrinal preaching of Pastor
Hamilton, as he is listed at their first pastor.
The
presence of so many Presbyterians in the Irish churches brought the inevitable
clash between who was the head of the church—the king of England or the Lord
Jesus. When the Church of Ireland sought to bring subservience to the former
and urged that the Presbyterian ministers deny the National Covenant of 1638,
which had just been signed, James Hamilton resigned. He offered, along with two
other ministers, to debate the matter, but the bishop simply deposed him from
the ministry. He was ordered to be arrested, but escaped from their hands.
Around
this time, Hamilton with three other Presbyterian ministers and 140 Ulster
Scots commissioned a sailing vessel known as the Eagle Wing to sail to America.
However due to storms, a broken rudder, and other calamities, the ship had to
return to Ireland. Hamilton traveled on to Scotland and became involved with
the Covenanters. He eventually became the minister of the Presbyterian Church
of Dumfrees, Scotland.
It
is interesting that he returned to Ireland for various purposes, once even to
administer the Solemn League and Covenant in Ulster. Why he was not arrested,
we don’t know, other than the providential care of God watching over him. On
one of his trips to Northern Ireland, his ship was captured by forces not
conducive to his faith. He served 10 months in prison but was set free in 1645.
Returning to Scotland, he was appointed by the General Assembly to be a
chaplain to King Charles II, but wound up with another prison sentence in the
Tower of London. Oliver Cromwell eventually gave him his freedom.
He eventually retired in Edinburgh.
James
Hamilton died this day, May
10, 1666.
Words to Live By: A learned and diligent pastor, his life and ministry was
certainly filled with hardship and difficulty. Even in his married live to wife
Elizabeth Watson, this union would produce 15 children, with only one living to
adulthood and the rest dying in infancy. God’s servants have often lived
in hardship and difficulty. Think of Paul’s description of his ministry in 2
Corinthians 6:4 – 10 and 11:23
– 27. James Hamilton was deposed from his office by man,
but supported by God’s Spirit in his life and ministry, always faithful to live
and work in God’s will. Let us, dear readers, keep busy serving our God
and King, leaving the results of that service in the hands of the
Lord. Romans 8:28
reads, “And we know that God causes all things (i.e. the
sufferings of this present time) to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (NAS)
reads, “And we know that God causes all things (i.e. the
sufferings of this present time) to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (NAS)
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