Notes of a message preached in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church — September 26th, 1982.
“And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem,” 2 Chronicles 14:9-15.
My purpose in recalling the events of 1912 is three-fold.
1. As an Ulster man I am proud of and thankful for the actions of my forefathers and I would have all to remember their daring.
2. As a Christian I am encouraged when I recall the mighty deliverance that the Lord wrought in those times of political betrayal.
3. As a citizen I believe a perusal of those far off events will shed light upon the troubled path we are called upon to tread today.
The year 1912 was a year of political activity and much anxiety amongst the Protestants of Ulster.
Since the introduction by the Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, of the First Home Rule Bill of 1886, which aimed to establish an Irish legislature in Dublin, Ulster Protestants had been voicing their opposition under the slogan, ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’. The Bill was defeated in the House of Commons and heavily split the Liberal Party.
The Second Home Rule Bill in 1893 was also introduced by Gladstone. It successfully passed the House of Commons but was overwhelmingly vetoed by the House of Lords.
The Third Home Rule Bill of 1912–1914 was introduced by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, another Liberal Party leader.
It passed under the Parliament Act 1911—which reduced the House of Lords’ veto to a delaying power—and received Royal Assent in September 1914.
However, it was suspended for the duration of World War I and never took effect due to the 1916 Easter Rising and subsequent Irish War of Independence.
It was in response to this very imminent threat that the Protestants of Ulster, under the leadership of Edward Carson, clearly indicated that they were ready to take up arms to fight Irish Republicans and the British Army if it was to be used against them to attempt to force them into an Ireland ruled by a Roman Catholic majority.
On 5th January 1912, Colonel R H Wallace, Secrecy of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ulster, applied to two Belfast magistrates for permission to begin military drilling of citizens. Thus the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary organisation, founded by the Ulster Unionist Council, for the preservation of the Constitution, was born.
On 8th February, Winston Churchill planned to speak at a Home Rule rally in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. He was met with severe Unionist hostility and was unable to use the originally planned venue, for loyalists had seized the Hall and blocked his use of it. Churchill moved to Celtic Park Gaelic football ground and addressed a crowd of thousands.
On 9th April, Bonar Law, leader of the Conservative Party, spoke at a loyalist rally in Balmoral show grounds where the biggest Union Jack ever made was unfurled!
On 11th April, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith introduced the Third Home Rule Bill.
On 28th September, the Ulster Covenant was signed throughout the Province by 220,000 men and by 229,000 women, a total of 271, 414 signatures were collected in a united act of defiance of what the British Government planned for our Protestant forefathers and mothers, it must be said!
From 1885 until 1912, loyalist unity against Home Rule had been forged and tempered for some 26 years and was at its height when the Covenant was signed.
Ulster was preserved in those days and that without the war our forefathers were prepared to fight for the ONE who was the TRUE DELIVERER of our Province from Popery’s dominance was the Lord, the Unchanging God of mercy!
In these days of like crisis, some 70 years later, He can do it again, men and women!
I. DESPITE THE APPARENT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 1912 AND 1982, THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS THE SAME!
Lord Carson spoke in the Ulster Hall on 27th September 1912 and exposed that John Redmond, the leader of Irish Nationalists at that time was seeking the same dominance and destruction of Ulster Protestantism as the likes of John Hume is seeking today. The ecumenical churches have come out in support of his call for political power-sharing in Stormont.
That spirit was not that of the churches in 1912!
It was the resistance by our forefathers which spoiled the day for Redmond and a like rejection of the overtures of today’s Nationalists can defeat their treachery again!
It was the clear understanding of the threat ‘Home Rule’ posed that forged such determination. This was aided by the likes of the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland back then. Sadly, there is no such leadership in that body in the face of today’s ecumenical sell-out!
II. EVEN IF CIRCUMSTANCES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TODAY, THE LORD IS NOT BOUND BY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Our text shows that.
“And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host.”
It is NOT foolish to put our faith in the Lord to deliver us in these days of combined political and ecclesiastical treachery, though many within our ranks say it is!
The Lord will do great things again for those who boldly step out in faith in Him. “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled,” verse 12. That is “a thousand thousand” of them ran away from before the Lord!
That has been the experience of Christians in the ages past!
“And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them,” Exodus 14:19-28.
The experience Paul spoke of the Corinthians remains true today.
“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence,” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.
The resurrection of our Saviour from the grave is the most glorious manifestation of the power of our God to work victory to the ultimate level!
*Comment — Sadly, the many like exhortations of those days of blessing were increasingly ignored by an Ulster increasingly deceived and betrayed by ecumenical clerics.
That deception has affected many Christians today, even within our own ranks, and that to the degree that the “Old Paths” are being abandoned by those who DO NOT BELIEVE that the Lord has not changed!