Michael McClelland (1719 - 1780)

Born 1719 in Scotland

Descendants

Died 1780 at about age 61 in Ireland

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Biography

This biography is a rough draft. It was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import and needs to be edited.

Note

Note: #N14745

Sources

• WikiTree profile McClelland-151 created through the import of WORCESTER_2012-07-31.ged on Jul 31, 2012 by Bob Worcester. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Bob and others.

Notes

Note N14745Richard McClelland in his history says that Michael was born in Scotland but migrated to Ireland at an early age. Since the early 1500s, Scotland had been struggling for religious freedom and in the mid 1600s a band of devout Presbyterians drew up a Covenant which declared that they were opposed to the theory of Divine Right of Kings and the imposition of an episcopal system. They were against the use of images in the churches, papal authority, religious orders and capital punishment. These people were called Covenanters and were an outgrowth of the "Lollards" or "Biblemen" who had started the reformation movement 100 years earlier, the same time Luther was fighting for reformation in Germany. Anyone involved in the movement was declared a rebel and forbidden to take part in any services. They resorted to preaching in fields and anywhere else they could gather "true believers."

The movement made headway when Cromwell created the Puritan Commonwealth and when he died and Charles II was brought back in 1660, the Presbyterians forced Charles to sign a Covenant at his crowning ceremony. He, being Catholic, soon renounced the Covenant and the Presbyterians again bound themselves to a National Covenant. The Covenanters suffered untold misery, hardship and murder. Being constantly harassed, their life was reduced to a condition of civil thralldom. They were either involved in severe religious exercises or tortured with horrid anticipation about the future since almost every action, however innocent, was considered a deadly sin. Their property was impaired with inordinate taxes and they were liable to the most unrelenting conscriptions. Anyone even suspected of participation was fined and faced imprisonment while the ministers faced death and confiscation of their property. Hundreds were killed when attacked by soldiers while praying in the fields or homes and more were banished to America. Many were hung without proper trial going to their deaths praising the Lord. The fight ended in 1690 when Presbyterianism was restored in Scotland.

The Reformation took place in Scotland in 1560. John Knox, and his colleagues, established a kind of modified Episcopacy. It was not until the 1580s that Andrew Melville introduced Presbyterianism. For a number of reasons eventually the Kirk became governed by Bishops in Presbytery. When James VI became James I he imposed a more Anglican kind of Church Government, though there were still Presbyteries. Conflict began with Charles I, acting on the advice of Archbishop Laud, imposing more or less a royal dictatorship upon the Church, while publicly this was manifested in a new prayer book, the real question was over the question of authority. There were also economic reasons for conflict between the King and the rising middle classes. In 1638 an agreement was signed, called the National Covenant. This rather turgid document set out the belief of James VI, and the laws governing the Kirk which the King had ignored. Eventually the vast majority of the people of Scotland signed this document pledging to resist the King's actions. This led to war between Scotland and England, which destabilized Charlie's regime. The eventual result was the English Civil War (with the Scots supporting the Parliamentary forces, after the English Parliament had agreed to a treaty with the Scots - the Solemn League and Covenant 1643). After the Parliamentary forces executed Charles I, the Scots then supported Charles II on condition he too signed the Covenant. He was crowned king in 1650. When the Scots were defeated by the English, there was an interregnum, from 1650 -1660, when Scotland was governed as an integral part of the one Commonwealth. When Charles II eventually did become king, he perversely followed a policy towards the Church which was different to his promise when he signed the Covenant. Not only did he reject the Covenant, he reestablished Episcopalianism, and persecuted those who would not conform.

There was much civil unrest, with many people especially in the South West refusing to worship as the King proscribed. This period, called the killing times, lasted from 1660 until eventually Charles's successor in 1685 James VII and II was overthrown by the English establishment in 1688, and in Scotland in 1689. Because the Episcopalians would not reject James, Presbyterianism became the official form of Church government. There were however some Covenanters who rejected the settlement, because William would not persecute for religion. Eventually some of them became the Reformed Presbyterian Church - known popularly as Covenanters. Others joined the first secession. Covenanters are therefore either the people who signed the National Covenant in 1638; or those who stayed loyal to Presbyterianism between 1660 and 1689; or those who rejected the settlement of 1689 because it was not covenanted.