Old Light and New Light

The Oxford Companion to Irish History | 2007 | 700+ words | Copyright

Old Light and New Light, names given to conflicting parties in 18th‐century Irish Presbyterianism. The Old Lights were conservative Calvinists adhering to the Westminster formularies which they believed ministers and ordinands should subscribe. New Lights were liberals, unhappy with the Westminster formularies and the practice of subscription. The terms emerged in the 1720s when the Revd John Malcolme of Dunmurry accused the Revd John Abernethy and the avant‐garde Belfast Society of offering ‘new light’ to the world. The New Light party dominated the Synod of Ulster in the 18th century; subscription fell into disuse and the conservative Seceders grew rapidly. In the early 19th century the New Lights became tainted with Arianism and were driven out of the synod to form the Remonstrant Synod, while the Synod of Ulster joined the Seceders in 1840 to form the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

R. F. G. Holmes

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