Secession Synod

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The Secession Synod was the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland from 1743 to 1840. [1]

Contents

History

The Secession movement began in the 1733, when some Protestant preachers in Scotland observed what they saw as loosening in the orthodoxy of the Presbyterian Church and a movement towards liberal modernism. Ebenezer Erskine was dismissed from his Scottish congregation after declaring that the Scottish church needed to be reformed; [2] he and several others started their ‘Associate Presbytery’ [3] and became known as Seceders.

Seceder congregations spread throughout Scotland and Ulster. [4] There was a split amongst the Seceders in Scotland over an oath (leading to the Burghers and anti-Burghers), but this was mended in 1818. [2]

Creation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

In the 1830s, students of both the Secession Synod and the Synod of Ulster attended the Belfast Academical Institution where a United Prayer Meeting was established. [2] In 1839 the students petitioned both Synods to unite and they agreed to set up a committee to deal with the issue; the committee produced twelve resolutions which were presented on 8 April 1840 and with concessions from both sides these were eventually accepted. [2]

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland was created in 1840 with the merger of the Secession Synod and the Synod of Ulster. [5] The ceremony was attended by 500 ministers and elders, including a visiting Robert Murray McCheyne. [6] [7]

Some Seceder congregations refused to join the body, but in time most joined or became members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. [3]

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