23
July 1605 A.D. Son-in-law
of John Knox: “Mr. John Welsh, you are to
report to the King’s Council in Edinburgh.”
Graves,
Dan. “John Welsh Preached Last Sermon at Ayr.”
Christianity.com. June 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/john-welsh-preached-last-sermon-at-ayr-11630053.html. Accessed 13 May 2014.
“John Welsh, you are to report to the King's
Council in Edinburgh."
When John Welsh stepped out of his pulpit in Ayr,
Scotland, on this day, July 23, 1605, the King's men came for him with that
order. The Scottish pastor had preached that morning on the heart-warming
promise that there is no condemnation for God's elect, concluding with the
words, "Now let the Lord give his blessing to his word, and let the Spirit
of Jesus, who is the author of this verity [truth], come in and seal up the
truth of it in your hearts and souls, for Christ's sake."
John had expected this arrest. Earlier that year,
King James VI of Scotland forbade any pastor from attending a convention in
Aberdeen. Like many Scottish pastors, Welsh believed no king had the right to
stop preachers from conducting God's business. He had never been one to buckle
in face of danger. Needless to say, he had gone to the meeting. Now it was pay
day.
Welsh said good-bye to his crying family and
weeping church folk. "God send you back soon," they prayed. But it
was not to be.
John was given a mock trial and jailed. At first he
was held in the prison known as the tollbooth, where many Scottish preachers
served time. Later he was taken to brutal Blackness Castle. According to tradition,
he was lowered into a dungeon pit that could be reached only through a hole in
the floor. Its rough floor was uneven and slanted. There was no flat place on
which to lay and no smooth spot on which to get comfortable. One could not sit,
stand or lie down without misery. John spent ten months at Blackness.
Well-known for his prayer-life (he averaged seven hours a day in prayer), John
no doubt continued his earnest pleas for Scotland. Like his father-in-law John
Knox, he pleaded, "O God, will you not give me Scotland!"
Perhaps he also remembered his hard years of
service for Christ. At his first pastorate, in Selkirk, the local folk rejected
the gospel completely, even cruelly cutting his horse so that he could not ride
to nearby villages to preach. His next position was in a Roman Catholic region.
The previous minister was killed for preaching reformation. At neither place
did he have much success. But in his third pulpit, at Ayr, many people came to
know Christ.
Ayr was a rough town. Duels and fights were so
common, people feared to step onto the streets. Whenever John heard that a
fight was brewing, he rushed to the spot and urged the rowdies to sit down to a
peace meal together. He did this so often that the town became quieter and
safer. James did not have the best interests of Ayr in mind when he arrested
John. He felt that if he allowed Scotland to abolish bishops, they would want
to abolish the king too!
James banished John to France. John quickly learned
French and served as a preacher among the persecuted Protestants there. When
his health broke, John's wife pleaded with King James to let him return to
Scotland's air. The king said John could--if he submitted to the bishops.
John's wife was made of the same heroic stuff as her husband. She held out her
apron and replied with spirit that she would rather have his head cut off and
placed in her apron then have him betray the truth!
Bibliography:
1. Roberts, Maurice. "John
Welsh of Ayr." Revival Library. http://www.revival-library.org/index.html.
2. Smellie, Alexander. Men of the
Covenant. Revell, 1903.
3. Taylor, James. The Scottish
Covenanters. London: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., no date.
Last updated June, 2007
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