The (General) Synod of Ulster was the forerunner of the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the sovereign and highest court of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and is thus the Church's governing body. The General Assembly normally meets annually, during the first full wee ...

. It comprised all the clergy of the church elected by their respective local presbyteries (or church elders) and a section of the laity. Official records of its proceedings exist from 1691. In 1726, the Synod expelled ministers, grouped together as the Synod of Antrim, who refused to subscribe to the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...

. Later there was a further secession by those who, insisting on the sole kingship of Christ, rejected the Confession. In 1763 they organised a distinct Reformed Presbyterian Church, and in 1811 established their own provincial

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

. In 1746, some of the more doctrinaire

Calvinists Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

withdrew, forming the

Secession Synod The Secession Synod was the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland from 1743 to 1840. 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 Chur ...

. Within the mainline Synod there was a continuing distinction between ' Old Light' supporters of theological orthodoxy and '

New Light The terms Old Lights and New Lights (among others) are used in Protestant Christian circles to distinguish between two groups who were initially the same, but have come to a disagreement. These terms originated in the early 18th century from a spl ...

' elements more inclined to defer to conscience rather than doctrine. In the first decades of the 19th century, positions hardened with New Light ministers adopting a Unitarian or

Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...

scepticism regarding the

doctrine of the Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

. In 1829, when the leading conservative evangelical, Henry Cooke, succeeded in pressing the General Synod for a firm declaration of Trinitarian belief they withdrew to form their own Remonstrant Synod. The departure of the latitudinarian party made possible a reconciliation with the earlier Seceders. Purged of its heterodox elements, in 1840 the Synod of Ulster joined with the Secession Synod to form the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

References

Presbyterian Church in Ireland Presbyterian synods {{Christian-denomination-stub