Part 8 (1/2)
Another wonderful story they tell of him at the same time:--The Lord Ochiltry the captain, being both son to the good Lord Ochiltry, and Mr.
Welch's uncle in law, was indeed very civil to Mr. Welch, but being for a long time, through the mult.i.tude of affairs, kept from visiting Mr.
Welch in his chamber, as he was one day walking in the court, and espying Mr. Welch at his chamber window, asked him kindly how he did, and if in any thing he could serve him? Mr. Welch answered him, He would earnestly intreat his lords.h.i.+p, being at that time to go to court, to pet.i.tion king James in his name, that he might have liberty to preach the gospel; which my lord promised to do. Mr. Welch answered, My lord, both because you are my kinsman, and for other reasons, I would earnestly intreat and bidest you not to promise, except you faithfully perform. His lords.h.i.+p answered. He would faithfully perform his promise; and so went for London. But though at his first arrival, he was really purposed to present the pet.i.tion to the king, when he found the king in such a rage against the G.o.dly ministers, that he durst not, at that time, present it; so he thought fit to delay it, and thereafter entirely forgot it.
The first time that Mr. Welch saw his face after his return from court, he asked him what he had done with his pet.i.tion. His lords.h.i.+p answered, He had presented it to the king, but that the king was in so great a rage against the ministers at that time, he believed it had been forgotten, for he had got no answer. Nay, said Mr. Welch to him, My lord, you should not lie to G.o.d, and to me; for I know you never delivered it, though I warned you to take heed not to undertake it, except you would perform it; but because you have dealt so unfaithfully, remember G.o.d shall take from you both estate and honours, and give them to your neighbour in your own time: which accordingly came to pa.s.s, for both his estate and honours were in his own time translated to James Stuart, son of captain James, who was indeed a cadet, but not the lineal heir of the family.
While he was detained prisoner in Edinburgh castle, his wife used for the most part to stay in his company, but upon a time fell into a longing to see her family in Ayr, to which with some difficulty he yielded; but when she was to take her journey, he strictly charged her not to take the ordinary way to her own house, when she came to Ayr, nor to pa.s.s by the bridge through the town, but to pa.s.s the river above the bridge, and so get the way to his own house, and not to come into the town, for, said he, before you come thither, you shall find the plague broken out in Ayr, which accordingly came to pa.s.s.
The plague was at that time very terrible, and he being necessarily separate from his people, it was to him the more grievous; but when the people of Ayr came to him to bemoan themselves, his answer was, that Hugh Kennedy, a G.o.dly gentleman in their town, should pray for them, and G.o.d should hear him. This counsel they accepted, and the gentleman conveening a number of the honest citizens, prayed earnestly for the town, as he was a mighty wrestler with G.o.d, and accordingly after that the plague decreased.
Now the time is come when he must leave Scotland, and never to see it again. So upon the 7th of November 1606, in the morning he with his neighbours took s.h.i.+p at Leith, and though it was but two o'clock in the morning, many were waiting on with their afflicted families, to bid them farewel[51]. After prayer, they sung the 23d psalm, and so to the great grief of the spectators, set sail for the south of France, and landed in the river of Bourdeaux. Within fourteen weeks after his arrival, such was the Lord's blessing upon his diligence, he was able to preach in French, and accordingly was speedily called to the ministry, first in one village, then in another; one of them was Nerac, and thereafter was settled in St. Jean d' Angely, a considerable walled town, and there he continued the rest of the time he sojourned in France, which was about sixteen years. When he began to preach, it was observed by some of his hearers, that while he continued in the doctrinal part of his sermon, he spoke very correct French, but when he came to his application, and when his affections kindled, his fervor made him sometimes neglect the accuracy of the French construction: But there were G.o.dly young men who admonished him of this, which he took in very good part, so for preventing mistakes of that kind, he desired the young gentlemen, when they perceived him beginning to decline, to give him a sign, _viz._ that they were to stand up; and thereafter he was more exact in his expression through his whole sermon: So desirous was he, not only to deliver good matter, but to recommend it in neat expression.
There were many times persons of great quality in his auditory, before whom he was just as bold as ever he had been in a Scots village; which moved Mr. Boyd of Trochrig once to ask him (after he had preached before the university with Saumur with such boldness and authority as if he had been before the meanest congregation), How he could be so confident among strangers, and persons of such quality? To which he answered, That he was so filled with the dread of G.o.d, he had no apprehensions from man at all; and this answer, said Mr. Boyd, did not remove my admiration, but rather increase it.
There was in his house, amongst many others who boarded with him for good education, a young gentleman of great quality, and suitable expectations, and this was the heir of Lord Ochiltry, captain of the Castle of Edinburgh. This young n.o.bleman, after he had gained very much upon Mr. Welch's affections, fell ill of a grievous sickness, and after he had been long wasted with it, closed his eyes, and expired, to the apprehension of all spectators, and was therefore taken out of his bed, and laid on a pallet on the floor, that his body might be the more conveniently dressed. This was to Mr. Welch a very great grief, and therefore he stayed with the dead body full three hours, lamenting over him with great tenderness. After twelve hours, the friends brought in a coffin, whereinto they desired the corpse to be put, as the custom is; but Mr. Welch desired, that for the satisfaction of his affections, they would forbear it for a time, which they granted, and returned not till twenty-four hours after his death were expired; then they desired, with great importunity, that the corpse might be coffined, and speedily buried, the weather being extremely hot; yet he persisted in his request, earnestly begging them to excuse him once more; so they left the corpse upon the pallet for full thirty-six hours; but even after all that, though he was urged, not only with great earnestness, but displeasure, they were constrained to forbear for twelve hours more.
After forty-eight hours were past, Mr. Welch still held out against them, and then his friends perceiving that he believed the young man was not really dead, but under some apoplectic fit, proposed to him, for his satisfaction, that trial should be made upon his body by doctors and chirurgeons, if possibly any spark of life might be found in him, and with this he was content.--So the physicians are let to work, who pinched him with pincers in the fleshy parts of his body, and twisted a bow-string about his head with great force, but no sign of life appearing in him, the physicians p.r.o.nounced him stark dead, and then there was no more delay to be made; yet Mr. Welch begged of them once more, that they would but step into the next room for an hour or two, and leave him with the dead youth; and this they granted. Then Mr. Welch fell down before the pallet, and cried to the Lord with all his might, and sometimes looked upon the dead body, continuing in wrestling with the Lord, till at length the dead youth opened his eyes, and cried out to Mr. Welch, whom he distinctly knew, O Sir, I am all whole, but my head and legs; and these were the places they had sore hurt with their pinching.
When Mr. Welch perceived this, he called upon his friends, and shewed them the dead young man restored to life again, to their great astonishment. And this young n.o.bleman, though he lost the estate of Ochiltry, lived to acquire a great estate in Ireland, and was Lord Castle-Stuart, and a man of such excellent parts, that he was courted by the earl of Stafford to be a councellor in Ireland; which he refused to be, until the G.o.dly silenced Scottish ministers, who suffered under the bishops in the north of Ireland, were restored to the exercise of their ministry, and then he engaged, and continued to for all his life, not only in honour and power, but in the profession and practice of G.o.dliness, to the great comfort of the country where be lived. This story the n.o.bleman himself communicated to his friends in Ireland.
While Mr. Welch was minister in one of these French villages, upon an evening a certain popish friar travelling through the country, because he could not find lodging in the whole village, addressed himself to Mr.
Welch's house for one night. The servants acquainted their master, and he was content to receive this guest. The family had supped before he came, and so the servants convoyed the friar to his chamber, and after they had made his supper, they left him to his rest. There was but a timber part.i.tion betwixt him and Mr. Welch, and after the friar had slept his first sleep, he was surprized with the hearing of a silent, but constant whispering noise, at which he wondered very much, and was not a little troubled.
The next morning he walked in the fields, where he chanced to meet with a country man, who saluting him because of his habit, asked him, Where he had lodged that night? The friar answered, He had lodged with the hugenot minister. Then the country man asked him, what entertainment he had? The friar answered, Very bad: for, said he, I always held, that devils haunted these ministers houses, and I am persuaded there was one with me this night, for I heard a continual whisper all the night over, which I believe was no other thing, than the minister and the devil conversing together. The country man told him, he was much mistaken, and that it was nothing else than the minister at his night prayer. O, said the friar, does the minister pray any? Yes, more than any man in France, answered the country man, and if you please to stay another night with him you may be satisfied. The friar got home to Mr. Welch's house, and pretending indisposition, intreated another night's lodging, which was granted him.
Before dinner, Mr. Welch came from his chamber, and made his family exercise, according to his custom. And first he sung a psalm, then read a portion of scripture, and discoursed upon it, thereafter he prayed with great fervor, to all which the friar was an astonished witness.
After exercise they went to dinner, where the friar was very civilly entertained, Mr. Welch forbearing all question and dispute with him for the time; when the evening came, Mr. Welch made exercise as he had done in the morning, which occasioned more wonder to the friar, and after supper they Went to bed; but the friar longed much to know what the night whisper was, and therein he was soon satisfied, for after Mr.
Welch's first sleep, the noise began; then the friar resolved to be certain what it was, and to that end he crept silently to Mr. Welch's chamber-door, and there he heard not only the sound, but the words distinctly, and communications betwixt man and G.o.d, such as he thought, had not been in this world. The next morning, as soon as Mr. Welch was ready, the friar went to him, and told him, that he had lived in ignorance the whole of his life, but now he was resolved to adventure his soul with Mr. Welch, and thereupon declared himself protestant: Mr.
Welch welcomed and encouraged him, and he continued a protestant to his death.
When Lewis XIII. king of France made war upon the protestants there, because of their religion, the city of St. Jean d' Angely was besieged by him with his whole army, and brought into extreme danger. Mr Welch was minister of the town, and mightily encouraged the citizens to hold out, a.s.suring them, G.o.d would deliver them. In the time of the siege, a cannon ball pierced the bed where he was lying, upon which he got up, but would not leave the room, till he had, by solemn prayer, acknowledged his deliverance. During this siege, the townsmen made stout defence, till one of the king's gunners planted a great gun so conveniently upon a rising ground, that therewith he could command the whole wall upon which the townsmen made their greatest defence. Upon this, they were constrained to forsake the whole wall in great terror, and tho' they had several guns planted upon the wall, no man durst undertake to manage them. This being told to Mr. Welch, he notwithstanding encouraged them still to hold out, and running to the wall, found the cannonier, who was a Burgundian, near the wall, him he entreated to mount the wall, promising to a.s.sist him in person. The cannonier told Mr. Welch, that they behoved to dismount the gun upon the rising ground, else they were surely lost; Mr. Welch desired him to aim well, and he would serve him, and G.o.d would help him; the gunner fell to work, and Mr. Welch ran to fetch powder for a charge, but, as he was returning, the king's gunner fired his piece, which carried the laddle with the powder out of his hands: This did not discourage him, for having left the laddle, he filled his hat with powder, wherewith the gunner dismounted the king's gun at the first shot, and the citizens returned to their post of defence.
This discouraged the king so much, that he sent to the citizens to offer them fair conditions, _viz._ That they should enjoy the liberty of their religion, their civil privileges, and their walls should not be demolished; the king only desired that he might enter the city in a friendly manner with his servants. This the city thought fit to grant, and the king with a few more entered the city for a short time. While the king was in the city, Mr. Welch preached as usual, which offended the French court, for while he was at sermon the king sent the duke de Espernon to fetch him out of the pulpit into his presence. The duke went with his guard, and when he entered the church where Mr. Welch was preaching, Mr. Welch commanded to make way, and to place a seat that the duke might hear the word of the Lord. The duke instead of interrupting him, sat down, and gravely heard the sermon to an end, and then told Mr.
Welch he behoved to go with him to the king, which he willingly did.
When the duke came to the king, the king asked him why he brought not the minister with him; and why he did not interrupt him? The duke answered, Never man spake like this man, but he had brought him along with him. Whereupon Mr. Welch is called, and when he had entered the king's room, he kneeled and silently prayed for wisdom and a.s.sistance.
Thereafter the king challenged him, how he durst preach in that place, since it was against the laws of France, that any man should preach within the verge of his court? Mr. Welch answered, Sir, if you did right, you would come and hear me preach, and make all France hear me likewise. For, said he, I preach you must be saved by the death and merits of Jesus Christ, and not your own; and I preach, that as you are king of France, you are under the authority of no man on earth: Those men, he said, whom you hear, subject you to the Pope of Rome, which I will never do. The king replied, Well, well, you shall be my minister; and, as some say, called him father, which is an honour bestowed upon few of the greatest prelates in France: However, he was favourably dismissed at that time, and the king also left the city in peace.
But within a short time thereafter the war was renewed, and then Mr.
Welch told the inhabitants of the city, That now their cup was full, and they should no more escape; which accordingly came to pa.s.s, for the king took the town, and commanded Vitry the captain of his guard to enter and preserve his minister from all danger; then horses and waggons were provided for Mr. Welch, to transport him and his family for Roch.e.l.le, whither he went, and there sojourned for a time.
After his flock in France was scattered, he obtained liberty to return to England, and his friends intreated that he might have permission to come to Scotland, because the physicians declared there was no other method to preserve his life, but by the freedom he might have in his native air. But to this king James would never yield, protesting he would be unable to establish his beloved bishops in Scotland, if Mr.
Welch was permitted to return thither; so he languished at London a considerable time; his disease was considered by some to have a tendency to a sort of leprosy, physicians said he had been poisoned; a languor he had together with a great weakness in his knees, caused by his continual kneeling at prayer, by which it came to pa.s.s, that though he was able to move his knees, and to walk, yet he was wholly insensible in them, and the flesh became hard like a sort of horn. But when in the time of his weakness, he was desired to remit somewhat of his excessive painfulness, his answer was, He had his life of G.o.d, and therefore it should be spent for him.
His friends importuned king James very much, that if be might not return to Scotland, at least he might have liberty to preach in London, which he would not grant, till he heard all the hopes of life were past, and then he allowed him liberty to preach, not fearing his activity.