1 2
|
1 2
1 2
In the fifth century Christianity was introduced into the Island by St. Patrick, who " found the people, at least the Rulers, given to Magick; but being overcome or convinced by his preaching and miracles, they were converted or else expelled the Island." After about three years' labours, he went to Ireland, leaving St. Germain, "a holy and prudent man," to complete the work which he had begun; and he " so absolutely settled the business of religion that the Island never afterwards relapsed." Equally prominent amongst the early traditions of the Island is the name of St. Maughold, who had been the captain of a hand of Irish robbers, but was subsequently converted to Christianity, and who was driven ashore in a leathern boat near the bold promontory on the east coast which bears his name. His high reputation and superior piety led to his being called unanimously to the Episcopal chair, and tradition says that St. Bridget, a celebrated Irish nun, visited these shores for the purpose of taking the veil from his hands. It is impossible to unravel the tangled mass of fact and fiction which belongs to this period; consequently, the three popular saints shall be left undisturbed in the glories which the centuries have thrown around them. " The Reformation," says Bishop Wilson, " was begun something later here than in England, but so happily carried on that there has not for many years been one Papist, a native, in the Island; nor, indeed, are there Dissenters of any denomination, except a family or two of Quakers, unhappily perverted during the late Civil Wars; and even some of these have of late been baptiz'd into the Church."
The Bishop of the Island about the outbreak of the Civil War was Dr. Parr, a Lancashire man, who had previously been rector of Eccleston, near Ormskirk. A high character is given to him, and it is said that during his residence many oppressive ordinances were repealed, and "many shameful practices of the clergy were reformed, in consequence of the determined opposition of the people." For some seventeen years after his death the see was vacant. This was the period of the Civil War in England, in which the Derby family, to whom the Island then belonged, played so prominent a part. Its story does not come within the scope of this work; suffice it to say that it was from the Isle of Man that the Earl of Derby went to join Charles at the battle of Worcester, which resulted so disastrously for the Royal cause, and ended in himself being taken prisoner and executed at Bolton on October 15th, 1651. His brave Countess, whom he had left behind on the Island, and who had so brilliantly defended Lathom House in 1644 against the Parliamentarian forces, hearing of the preparations of her enemies to deprive her of this final retreat, retired to Castle Rushen, Castletown, meaning to hold it to the last extremity. Colonels Dukinfield and Birch, members of old Puritan families in Lancashire, sailed against the Island with a large force; and Captain Christian, in whom the Countess principally confided, seeing the uselessness of resistance, it is said, without her knowledge, surrendered the whole Island. Until the Restoration the Countess was kept a prisoner.
Presbyterians have a Scottish background and rejected the Episcopal arrangement of the Established church. They were governed by Presbyters in which no higher order than 'Elder' was recognised. However each congregation was governed by its Session (Minister plus Elders) which was subordinate to the Presbytery which was subject to Synod which in turn could be over-ruled by the General Assembly. Scottish Presbyterians would appear to have commenced meetings in Douglas in 1763 [Roscow] but seem to have had few members as the minister left in 1765; they tried again in 1788 but again the congregation soon faltered. The Presbyterian church in Douglas can fairly be put down to one man - James McCrone - who came over in 1817 as Crown Agent and commissioner for the Governor the fourth Duke of Athol and his Nephew the young and inexperienced Bishop Murray. Mr McCrone for all his probity has gained a reputation as a hard man, Thomas Kelly one of the early emigrants to Ohio writing in 1827 invokes him with distaste. McCrone and his wife, the daughter of a London minister; would appear to be have been members of Samuel Haining's congregation from 1817 until 1825. However in that year, he and other, presumably, Scots founded a small congregation and in 1829 they underwrote the costs of inviting Rev B. Mellis for a year.
Previous to the yeare 1830, there was no presbyters church in Douglas in connection with the Kirk of Scotland although a large room had been for some time previously used as a place of worship. In that year, a subscription was commenced for the erection of a church and manse, by the late Mr. James M'Crone, crown agent in the Island, by whose indefatigable exertions, as well among the Scotch families resident in the Island as with the government, a sum was obtained sufficient to warrant the commencement of these buildings. In the course of the following season, both kirk and manse were erected-the former capable of accommodating three hundred persons and the latter equalling in its accommodations the generality of the manses in Scotland. They stand at the south end of Finch-road, commanding an extensive and interesting view of the bay and of the distant ocean. The congregation is inconnection with the presbytery of Lancashire. There was also a Presbyterian church in Ramsey which seems to date from around 1829 when a number of ex-patriot Scots fishermen petitioned the Wigtown Presbytery for help in founding a church. This led to the foundation of a church to accommodate 230 persons, opened in 1837, though there were significant breaks in the provision of a full time pastor.
1 2