Extract from sermon preached on Ulster Day 1912

A number of special religious services were held on the morning of Ulster Day, 28th September 1912, to mark the signing of the Ulster Covenant.

One service, attended by Lord Carson, was held in the Ulster Hall. Lord Carson appealed that there would be no applause but that the occasion would be treated as if it were a sabbath day service.

Dr M'Kean, a past moderator of the Presbyterian Church and fervent opponent of Home Rule, preached at this service. In the course of his sermon he said:

We are not seeking any changes – we are not attempting any revolution. We are plain, blunt men who love peace and industry, and pursue them. But we are also earnest, determined men, who wish to secure for ourselves and our children the priceless patrimony of freedom and the glorious heritage of civil and religious liberty under the flag of the Empire we have in some measure helped to build up. If we are refused these privileges it will be the basest betrayal of which any nation was ever guilty. 

The Irish question is at bottom a war against Protestantism; it is an attempt to establish a Roman Catholic ascendancy in Ireland, to begin the disintegration of the Empire by securing a second Parliament in Dublin. It is a policy to which we can never submit, and we mean to do everything that Christian men can to make it impossible. Why is it being pressed with such determination? What are the grievances from which our fellow countrymen suffered today that justify their leaders in keeping the country in a perpetual state of political turmoil? What could the British Parliament do for Ireland that it has not done or manifested a willingness to do? What's Ireland wants is rest from political agitation. We are ready to accept almost any program of social and political reform, but we will not have Home Rule. With us it is not a question of party politics, and our opposition to it will only end when the policy of those who would so basely betray is defeated and ultimately driven out of the field of practical politics. We have met in this solemn service on the morning of a day that shall long be remembered in the life and history of the province. We have met to worship our a God, who was our fathers God, to adore Him as King of Kings - Ruler over the nations - and Redeemer of men. 

We have met to humble ourselves before Him, to confess our sins, to seek His guidance and protection in our every hour of trial and time of need. We have met to prepay our spirits for the solemn act of signing the Covenant into which we have resolved to enter on this day - a day which shall long be remembered by our children and children's children as Ulster Day. We believe we can only truly give ourselves to one another by first dedicating ourselves to one another by first dedicating ourselves to God. Our faith is in Him, and our resolve is to keep that which He has committed to our trust. In His Name, therefore, we humbly consecrate ourselves, here and now, to the service of our God, or religion, and our country. And now, "onto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests onto God, and His Father, to Him the glory and dominion for ever and ever." Amen.