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The Death of John Welsh

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King James had by this time assumed the thrones over both England and Scotland, and he vowed to imprison all preachers whose Gospel was not that of the State Church. Harboring for years an anger against the outspokenness of Welsh, the King was ready to make his move. Welsh’s final sermon at Ayr was on July 23, 1605. Its theme was “No Condemnation to God’s Elect.” On ending the sermon Welsh prayed, “Now let the Lord give His blessing to His Word, and let the Spirit of Jesus, Who is the Author of the verity, come in and seal up the truth of it in your hearts and souls, for Christ’s sake.”

Immediately after the sermon, the King’s men summoned him to force him to appear before a council in Edinburgh. Welsh would never see Ayr again. Welsh and other ministers were thrown into prison and indicted to stand trial. They went through the most unjust, illegal, and arbitrary proceedings that ended in a verdict of guilty to being heretics and traitors to the crown with a sentence of death.

Awaiting the date of execution, Welsh was delivered to a most brutal place of confinement called Blackness Castle. Welsh was put in a darkened dungeon that could only be described as “a barbaric foul hole that could only be entered through a hole in the floor.” The Castle still stands to this day, and the dungeon is an uneven floor with shelving rock, sharp and pointed so that a prisoner can neither sit, walk, or stand without pain. It was impossible to find comfort during sleep. There was no fireplace for warmth and no light to read by. For over ten months Welsh was imprisoned in this hell-hole.

After those ten months King James sent a letter to the council commuting the death sentence of the ministers and instead banishing them from the kingdom. Welsh was banished to France.

On arriving in France, Welsh immediately took on the Catholic oppression over the country and preached among the persecuted Protestants there. After years of playing cat and mouse with the church authorities, he was finally summoned to the court of King Louis XIII. The King then demanded of Welsh how he had dared to preach against the true Church on which principles his reign was founded. Welsh replied, “Sir, if your majesty knew what I preached, you would not only come and hear for yourself, but make all France hear it; for I preach not as those men who you are used to hearing. First, I preach that you must be saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, and not your own; next, I preach that you are the King of France, and there is no man on earth above you; but these priests whom you hear, subject you, the King, to a pope of Rome, which I would never do.” This totally disarmed the King of his anger and he instantly received Welsh into his royal favor, making him the King’s royal minister.

Living in relative peace to preach the Gospel, Welsh at this time was seized with an illness which his physicians said could only be removed by his returning to breathe the air of his native country. His wife then sought an interview with King James, who actually agreed to hear her. Dr. M’Crie, in his book the Life of Knox, records her famous interview with the King: “His Majesty asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ She replied, ‘John Knox.’ ‘Knox and Welsh,’ exclaimed the King, ‘the devil never made such a match as that.’ ‘That is quite right, sir,’ said she, ‘for we never asked his advice.’ He then asked her, ‘How many children did your father leave, and were they lads or lasses?’ She said, ‘Three, and they were all lasses.’ ‘God be thanked!’ cried the King, lifting up both his hands, ‘for if they had been three lads, I would never have enjoyed my three kingdoms in peace.’ She again urged her request that the King would give her husband his native air in Scotland. ‘Give him his native air! Give him the devil!’ the King replied. ‘Give the devil to your hungry courtiers,’ said she, offended at his profaneness. He then told her at last, that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would allow him to return to Scotland. Mrs. Welsh, lifting up her apron and holding it toward the King, replied, in the true spirit of her father and husband, ‘Please, your Majesty, I would rather have his head cut off and placed in my apron, than have him betray the truth!”

It took some persuading, but the King did relent, not to permit Welsh to return to Scotland, but to allow him to live in London. On arriving in London, Welsh immediately went to the pulpit and preached, but his time on earth was running out. Not long after that, he preached a long sermon, went home, and two hours later died in prayer in his fifty-third year of life. The doctors of that day said that Welsh died of “ossification of the limbs, brought on by much kneeling in his long and frequent devotional exercises.”

Oh God, Wilt Thou Not Give Me Scotland?!

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Excerpt from The Fire That Once Was: Welsh was now at the point where he would soon take his place as one of he great Reformed Scottish Revivalists. After four years at Kirkcudbright he now journeyed to a town “to which his name has ever after been most closely associated.” In 1600, he arrived at the country-town of Ayr. Welsh would spend less than five years in this town, from August 1600 to July 1605, but it was here that revival fires would blaze.

Ayr, locally called Ayrshire, had over the years gospel seeds planted in her by other Reformed ministers. Even Welsh’s late father-in-law, John Knox, had visited and preached there occasionally. But at this day and age the state of Ayr had deteriorated to a rude and barbarous cesspool. The sanitation of the area was no better. On his way to Ayr, traveling on the King’s Highway, Welsh’s senses were overwhelmed with the sight of mounds and mounds of offal (piles of decaying animal parts) and other filth accumulated on each side of the road. The people of Ayr were, as expected, crude, barbaric, immoral, and ignorant. Common people feared to venture out of doors as gangs of ruffians controlled the streets. Welsh saw all this and his spirit was stirred within him: What a nation so polluted with all abominations and murders as thou art? Thy iniquities are more than the sand of the sea, the cry of them is beyond the cry of Sodom.

On his arrival at Ayr, the aversion to him as a minister was so strong that he could find no one in the town who would let him and his wife have a house to live in. He would eventually find a Christian merchant by the name of Stewart, who offered him shelter under his roof.

Strengthened by the Lord and the power of His Might, in prayer always…the Glory of God was falling over the town and Welsh praying fervently and preaching frequently, was having an eternal effect on the masses. Welsh was soon holding two Sabbath services, preaching from nine to twelve in the morning, and from four to six in the afternoon, and in between visiting those who needed grounding in the Word of God. Welsh’s preaching was so moving that those in the congregation could not restrain themselves from weeping under the intense presence of God in the services. Sometimes he would not preach but instead ask those present to just pray for Divine Assistance , at which time the weight of the Glory of God would fall on the shoulders of all.

In 1604, because of the unsanitary conditions which were common in those days, a fearful plague began to spread over the country. The plague moved westward from city to city, and the 3000 people of Ayr became more and more alarmed as it approached their city. Welsh used this time to call the people to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, while at night he would spend hours praying for the mercy of God upon his congregation. Robert Murray McCheyne relates how one night during Welsh’s travailing before God this incident occurred: “He used to keep a blanket on his bed that he might wrap himself against the cold when he rose during the night to pray. One time his wife awakened and found him on the floor weeping. When she complained that he should be back in the bed, he said, “Oh woman, you do not understand. I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them.”

Amazingly, the plague swept through all of Scotland but did not come near the town of Ayr. Soon the plague ended and hundreds of visitors would flock into Ayr, the City of God, and from far look into the Garden of Prayer where Welsh would spend many an hour in intercession. He was now renowned for his prolonged seasons of prayer. Borrowing from his late father-in-law, Welsh would cry out, “Oh God, wilt wilt Thou not give me Scotland! Oh God, wilt Thou not give me Scotland!”