Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland

Reformed in Doctrine, Worship, and Practice

“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.” Psalm 60:4

  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • What We Contend For
    • What We Believe
    • How We Worship
    • How We Are Organised
    • Important Documents
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Articles
  • Publications
    • Free Presbyterian Magazine
    • Young People’s Magazine
    • Gaelic Supplement – An Earrann Ghàidhlig
    • Synod Reports
    • Religion and Morals Committee Reports
  • Audio
    • Sermons
    • Theological Conferences
    • Youth Conferences
  • Congregations
    • Places of Worship
    • Current Ministers
    • Galleries of FP Churches
  • International
    • Zimbabwe Mission
    • Other International Congregations
    • Translation Work
    • Metrical Psalms in Various Languages
  • History
    • History of the FP Church
    • Congregational Histories
    • Deceased Ministers and Probationers
    • Obituaries and Synod Tributes
    • Moderators of Synod etc.
  • Spiritual Help
    • How to Find Spiritual Help
    • How may a sinner be saved?
    • How may someone know if they are truly saved?
    • Spiritual Mindedness
    • Scripture and Catechism Exercises 2021-22
  • Bookshop
Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / April 2002 / Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire

Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire

The final part of a 4 part series.

The month before Edward’s death, Cranmer was persuaded by the King to agree to a scheme to divert the succession from Mary, Henry’s elder daughter, to Lady Jane Grey. Cranmer was extremely reluctant to disturb the arrangements which Henry had put in place to have Mary succeed Edward if she outlived him, but the Archbishop was swayed by his loyalty to the present monarch. However, in the event, the staunchly Roman Catholic Mary was soon swept into power.

Cranmer did play some part in Edward’s funeral, which followed the forms of the Book of Common Prayer. Mary reluctantly accepted the advice of her nephew the Emperor to allow this; he argued that, since Edward was a heretic, he was not entitled to an orthodox Roman Catholic funeral. A rumour spread round London that Cranmer had offered to say mass at Edward’s funeral. The Archbishop described the story, with perhaps uncharacteristic boldness, as lies spread by Satan in order to overthrow the Lord’s holy supper and restore the Latin mass, which Satan had invented. He offered, provided the Queen would consent to it, to take part in a public disputation to show that the doctrine in force in England under Edward was purer than any that had been known for 1000 years. He planned to stamp this proposal with his official seal and fix it to every church door in London. This, however, was not done, but one of his fellow-bishops had hundreds of copies printed and they were soon on sale throughout the capital. And Cranmer was soon a prisoner in the Tower, accused of high treason, for which he was sentenced to death. In the end, Mary decided not to punish him for treason against herself but for what she saw as the far more serious offence of heresy against God. After some time, Cranmer was joined in his cell by Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and John Bradford. No doubt the dreadful prison conditions were alleviated by the opportunity to study the Word of God together and to prepare for the disputation on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper which the authorities had arranged to take place in Oxford.

March 1554 saw Cranmer in prison in Oxford, along with Ridley and Latimer, but probably in separate cells. They were given a further month to prepare for the disputation, the form of which was very much to the Reformers’ disadvantage. Cranmer had to argue against four or five opponents at once and there was considerable heckling from an audience which was packed with supporters of the new regime, but he made his position clear enough. He maintained that he did not oppose the real presence of Christ in the Supper, but that he did not accept that Christ was physically present. When his opponents pointed out that by the real presence they meant that Christ was present in the flesh which He took from the Virgin Mary, Cranmer asserted that “His true body is truly present to them that truly receive Him, but spiritually”. However, Cranmer distinguished carefully between the obedience he was perfectly willing to give to the Crown and his complete rejection of the authority of the Pope. A few days later, the three Reformers were told that they had been proved wrong in the disputation and were given an opportunity of recanting and expressing their belief in the “real presence”. They refused, and Cranmer protested: “From this your judgement and sentence, I appeal to the just judgement of God Almighty, trusting to be present with Him in heaven”.

Very few of Cranmer’s letters from his Oxford prison have survived. In one written to a Mrs Wilkinson, he urged her to flee from England to escape persecution, explaining that if a Christian were captured and confronted with the choice of recanting or death, he must bravely face death, but that it was tempting God to seek martyrdom unnecessarily and to refuse to seek safety in flight. He had earlier declared why he himself had not fled; it was because of the discouraging effect it would have on others.

Some legal difficulties stood in the way of bringing the condemned prisoners to the stake at once. In the autumn of 1554, Mary felt able to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope and to bring her kingdom under the authority of Rome once more. The three prisoners were then condemned all over again and, because Cranmer had been made Archbishop by the authority of the Pope, a complicated procedure was set in train to excommunicate him, which had to be approved by the pontiff himself. After they had been condemned the second time, a Spanish friar, who was the Emperor’s confessor, was sent in the hope of bringing the three prisoners to recant. Latimer refused to see him; Ridley stood firmly out against him; Cranmer greeted him courteously but, it was said, moved from being initially “a student, to a very troublesome audience, and finally an open enemy”. However, the authorities felt that further discussion might prove useful.

A fortnight later, on October 16, Ridley and Latimer were brought to the stake. As they were led past Cranmer’s prison, they looked up at his window in the hope of seeing their friend for one last time in this world, but in vain. At that moment, Cranmer was engaged in discussions with the friars. But before long he was brought onto the roof of the prison to watch the horrible spectacle – especially horrible because of the long-drawn-out agony which Ridley had to endure before he succumbed to the flames. The authorities hoped that what he saw would weaken Cranmer’s resolve, but during his visits over the following week, the friar found Cranmer as firm as a rock.

Later in the year, Cranmer was allowed a degree of freedom; he lived in the home of the Dean of one of the Oxford colleges. During that time he had discussions with various theologians. Back in prison at the beginning of 1555, he seems to have felt intensely lonely and was suffering from ill-health. He had numerous discussions with Nicholas Woodson, one of the jailors, who withdrew his friendship when Cranmer refused to recant. From the next cell, the prisoner was heard weeping bitterly, but Woodson insisted on Cranmer recanting as a condition for resuming his visits. It has been pointed out that experts in psychological warfare would recognise it as a fatal blunder for a prisoner to make a friend of his jailor. Cranmer succumbed. But his submission was as yet tinged with a certain reserve; he made obedience to the monarchy the ground for submitting to the Pope, and this was not acceptable to the authorities. A few days later came a more complete recantation.

The authorities, however, were not interested in Cranmer recanting. He was the scapegoat for everything that had happened under Henry, and he had specially earned Mary’s antipathy by the part he played in her mother’s divorce. After being degraded from the priesthood, Cranmer’s spirit strengthened again and he appealed against the Pope to the next general council of the Church. This, of course, was completely against the spirit of his recent recantations. However, further pressure was applied by friars and others in the weeks that followed, and there were further recantations.

On his final night in time, Cranmer, under the supervision of the friars, wrote out a speech of submission which he was to deliver at the stake before being burnt. Later, probably through the night, he wrote out another version of his speech, with a drastically different ending: “And now I come to the great thing which so much troubleth my conscience, more than any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life. And that is setting abroad of a writing contrary to the truth; which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life if it might be. . . . And forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to my heart, my hand shall first be punished therefor; for, may I come to the fire, it shall be first burned. And as for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. And as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the Bishop of Winchester.”

Marcus Loane imagines him praying during that night from the Litany, which he had himself composed, “that it may please Thee to bring into the way of truth such as have erred and are deceived; that it may please Thee to strengthen such as do stand, and to comfort and help the weak-hearted, and to raise up them that fall, and finally to beat down Satan under our feet; that it may please Thee to succour, help and comfort all that are in danger, necessity and tribulation; that it may please Thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors and slanderers, and to turn their hearts; that it may please Thee to give us true repentance, to forgive all our sins, negligences and ignorances, and to endue us with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to Thy Holy Word.” (2)

It was a wet morning that 21 March 1555 in Oxford. So the first part of the proceedings were held inside, in St Mary’s Church. There was a sermon which laid out Cranmer’s crimes, spoke of the infinite mercy of God and pointed to the penitent thief on the cross. But, however confident the preacher was that Cranmer’s penitence was as certain as the thief’s, he must still burn. Then Cranmer was given his opportunity. First he prayed, “Thou didst not give Thy Son unto death for small sins only, but for all the greatest sins of the world, so that the sinner return to Thee with all his heart, as I do here at this present. Wherefore have mercy on me, O God, whose property is always to have mercy. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for Thy great mercy.” Then he pulled his speech out from inside his clothes and proceeded to read. Before long there was uproar. Cranmer continued to shout his words over the din but, when he began to refer to the sacrament, they dragged him down from the stage he was standing on.

Cranmer bounded off towards the place of burning, while the friars struggled to keep up with him. Did his eagerness to get there indicate that he now had a clear conscience before God, that he again enjoyed the sense of forgiven sin? He was tied to the stake and the fire was lit. True to his word, he kept his right hand in the flame, except that he once used it to wipe his face. Again and again he complained, “This hand hath offended”. He cried too, just as Stephen had done centuries before, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. Can we doubt that the Lord Jesus received his spirit at the point when it was set free from the pain of the fire and from every possibility of again being tempted to deny his Master?

The vine which was the Church of England was already a sorry spectacle. But this vine was yet to revive when, in 1558, Mary went to the grave, to be succeeded on the throne by her half-sister Elizabeth. Yet Elizabeth saw to it that the vine would grow no further in a Reformed direction than it had reached at the time of Edward’s death. “Quite deliberately”, says McCulloch, “she established a version of the Edwardian Church which proved to be a snapshot, frozen in time, of the Church as it had been in September 1552, ignoring the progress made in further changing the Church of England after that date.” (3)

However much further Cranmer might have taken the Church if Edward had been spared, his programme of reform was suddenly and tragically halted, and indeed eradicated for the time being, with the ascent to the throne of the fanatically-Romanist Mary Tudor. But William R Estep, a recent historian of the Reformation period, has commented, “Little did Mary realise that in burning the Archbishop she was kindling the fire that would eventually consume the cause that she so fervently championed”. (4) The fires which burnt the martyrs were the very means, in God’s providence, of making England as firmly Protestant as she was to become for many generations.

Everyone agreed that Cranmer was pleasant and courteous in his dealings with others, that he was free from malice, hatred and the desire for revenge. He was known for his extraordinary charm; even one of his bitterest opponents paid tribute also to his humility and generosity. Here was a man who had a serious sense of his responsibility as a servant of the Most High: “I pray God that we have not rather been figures of bishops, bearing the name and title of pastors and bishops before men, but that we have in deed diligently fed the little flock of Christ with the sweet and wholesome pasture of His true and lively Word”. John Knox described him as “the mild man of God” and referring to Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, spoke of “their sincere doctrine, pure life, godly conversation and discreet counsel”. But perhaps we can allow Merle d’Aubigné to have the last word. Addressing the people of England, he acknowledged his preference for the character of a Luther, a Calvin or a Knox, but went on: “God employs for the mysterious accomplishment of His purposes a great variety of character. . . . If this God of sovereign wisdom gave a Cranmer and not a Luther as reformer to the Church of England, it was because, in His unanswerable counsel, He had given as King to your people not a Frederick the Wise but a Henry VIII. The extreme prudence of Cranmer, his timidity, his want of decision, his pliability, deplorable in certain cases, preserved him under the government of the despotic Tudor from the scaffold to which that bloody Prince sent many of his bishops and his statesmen, and thus saved, with his own life, the work for which he was required. . . . He was the instrument employed by God for a work which . . . has saved during the last three centuries, thousands and thousands of souls.”

Endnotes:
1. The final article in the series, continued from last month. Under the young, godly Edward VI, the Reformation in England had made considerable progress. Then in 1553, at the age of only 16, he died.
2. Masters of the English Reformation, p 238.
3. Thomas Cranmer, p 620.
4. Renaissance and Reformation, p 264

 

 

Upcoming Events

Jul 4
30 Jun - 4 Jul

Communion: Beauly

Jul 7
7 Jul - 11 Jul

Communions: Bonar Bridge, Staffin, Uig

Jul 12
All day

Meeting of Presbytery: Asia Pacific

Jul 14
14 Jul - 18 Jul

Communions: Shieldaig, Fort William

Jul 21
21 Jul - 25 Jul

Communions: Auckland, Struan

View Calendar

Publications

  • Free Presbyterian Magazine
    • Historic Sermons
    • 1896 to 1904
    • 1904 to 1910
    • 1910 to 1919
    • 1920 to 1929
    • 1930 to 1939
    • 1940 to 1949
    • 1950 to 1956
    • 1998 to 2003
      • October 2003
        • A View from the Outer Hebrides
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 2
        • Sanctification – Part 2
        • The Ten Virgins
        • John Wesley 1703-1791
        • A Pastor’s Concern
        • Seeking Great Things
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2003
        • A Kingdom Where Order Reigns
        • Church Information
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 1
        • Sanctification – part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – part 4
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2003
        • Church Information
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – Part 3 – After the Disruption
        • Meditation – Its Blessedness
        • Obituary – John Beaton, Raasay
        • African Missions Update
        • Growing Vatican Sovereignty
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Christ as Prophet
      • March 2003
        • What We Make It?
        • King Solomon’s Chariot
        • Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 4
        • The Parable of the Talents
        • The Kinsman
        • Scottish Church Initiative for Union
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2003
        • A Powerful Voice
        • Notes and Comments
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 2
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Religion of the Bible
        • The Prodigal Son
        • The Study of Providence
        • Poor and Needy
        • John Piper and His Doctrine
        • African Missions
        • Protestant View
      • June 2003
        • No Sense of Need
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Call of Matthew
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Christian Doctrine of God
        • The Sower
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 1
        • Meditation Sanctifies
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting – 2003
        • Zimbabwe Ordinations and Inductions
        • Book Reviews
      • July 2003
        • Acceptable Worship
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Grace Glorified in Election
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – Some Further Doctrines
        • The Pharisee and the Publican
        • Rabbi Duncan
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 2
        • A Plea for Prayer
        • Continuing Repentance
        • Book Review: Christmas Evans, The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales
      • January 2003
        • Thankfulness
        • The Lord God of Elijah
        • Samuel Rutherford – Fair Anwoth by the Solway – 1627 – 1636
        • Manna
        • All of Grace
        • Obituary – Mr Edward Arthur Christensen, Auckland
        • Obituary – Miss Isabel Murray, North Tolsta
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2003
        • Christ’s Infinite Riches
        • Protestant View
        • Church Information
        • The Lord God of Elijah – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – His King’s Palace in Aberdeen
        • The Privilege of Prayer
        • In Possession of the Promises
        • The Rich Man and Lazarus
        • Humiliation and Prayer
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
        • Book Review – Sidelights on Bible Characters
        • Book Review – Authentic Christianity: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles
      • December 2003
        • Nineteenth-Century Drift
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 2
        • The Achreny Mission – 4. After the Disruption – Part 2
        • Meditation – Its Consequences
        • Visit to the Ukraine
        • Book Review – Letters from the South Seas, Margaret Paton
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • April 2003
        • The Promised Land
        • Church Information
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 1
        • Samuel Rutherford – The Last Years
        • The Pearl of Great Price
        • Repentance
        • A Private Among the Padres
        • Damaging Doubts
        • The Prince – Defender of all Faiths
        • Protestant View
      • August 2003
        • What Kind of Faith?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Head Stone of the Corner
        • The Vineyard
        • Mary and the Spiritual Mind
        • The Achreny Mission – 1. 1760 to 1815
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 3
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Book Review – God’s Hymnbook for the Christian Church
      • September 2002
        • The Shepherd’s Reward
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Jubilee
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conflict
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 2
        • The Beliver’s Sanctification
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Update
        • The New Archbishop of Canterbury
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
      • October 2002
        • “My Counsel Shall Stand”
        • Church Information
        • The Way to the City
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Consolidation
        • “Your Mercy”and the Jews’ Future
        • Springing Up After Many Days
        • Book Reviews
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2002
        • Christ’s Spiritual Conquests
        • Church Information
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2 (1) A Sermon by William Nixon Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
        • The Right Way (1) Rev J S Sinclair
        • Obituary Mr Murdo Macleod, Elder, Stornoway
        • Book Reviews
        • Foreign Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2002
        • Divine Compassion
        • Book Review – The Antichrist
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Coming to Christ – Part 2
        • A Master in Israel
        • The Cleansing of the Leper
        • The Christian’s Life
        • The Puritans on Prayer
        • Advice on Preaching
        • The Great Draught of Fishes
        • Book Review – Church and State
      • March 2002
        • “Hear the Word of the Lord”
        • The Blessing of Asher
        • Thomas Cranmer – That God Might Be Truly Worshipped
        • Psalms or Hymns in Public Worship
        • Obituary – Reverend Donald Nicolson
        • Is Britain Being Protected?
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • June 2002
        • “Another King, One Jesus”
        • Church Information
        • Pray Without Ceasing
        • The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2
        • Inventing Religion
        • Princeton and Pelagianism
        • Among the Children
        • Hopes of Future Usefulness – A Letter of John Love
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2002
        • “Religion in its Purity”
        • Notes and Comments
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • The Meat Offering
        • The Strength of Faith
        • Thomas Cranmer – Moving Towards a Reformation
        • The Extent of the Atonement
        • Rev John MacDonald (1925-2000) – Obituary
        • Book Review – God and Cosmos
        • Protestant View – Queen Invites Cardinal to Sandringham
      • July 2002
        • The Need for Opened Eyes
        • God’s Wrath Against Sin
        • The Puritans on Prayer – A Wondrous Mysterious Grace
        • Revival in Arran
        • Man’s Righteousness and God’s
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • February 2002
        • Offering up Our Desires to God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Look unto Me and Be Ye Saved
        • Thomas Cranmer – The Man of Extreme Caution
        • The Power of the Gospel
        • The Goodness of God in Redemption
        • Obituary – Mrs Isabella Turner
        • Book Review – Galatians
        • Book Notices
        • Protestant View
      • December 2002
        • “A Zealous, Godly Preacher”
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – From Birth to New Birth
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – part 3
        • Obituary – Mrs Annie MacIver, North Tolsta
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • April 2002
        • “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
        • Coming to Christ – Part 1
        • Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire
        • The Plague of Leprosy
        • Divided Allegiance
        • Obituary – Miss Margaret Sutherland
        • Book Review – The Hidden Pathway
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2002
        • Everything Devoted to God’s Service
        • Unity Among the Brethren
        • Those Who Have Feld for Refuge
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conquest
        • Symptoms of Spiritual Death
        • Book Review – The King’s Daughters
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 2001
        • Knowing God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Path of the Just
        • Obituary – The late Miss Jean Nicolson
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Lexie MacLeod
        • Raasay Congregation – a Brief History
        • The Knowledge of Sin
        • Induction at Sengera
        • Book Review: The Source of the IRA/Sinn Fein
        • Protestant View
      • October 2001
        • Tragedy
        • “God Gave the Increase”
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness for the Church
        • Desires for Glory
        • Calling a Minister
        • The Vatican Archives
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2001
        • Scotland’s Preachers
        • Recent Inductions
        • The Rose of Sharon
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness on the Personal Level – Intellectually
        • “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”
        • God’s Wonderful Goodness
        • “Withhold not Correction”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
      • May 2001
        • Sinking in Capernaum’s Doom
        • Book Review – Irish Worthies
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Goodwill of God
        • Keeping the Heart in Temptation
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 2
        • The Garden of Nuts
        • The Son of Man Lifted up
        • Obituary – The late John Angus MacLeod
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Kenya
        • Book Review – Faith and Justification
      • March 2001
        • “Just with God”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Priest
        • W S Plumer- Part 2
        • Obituary – The late Rev Alexander McPherson, Perth
        • Pastoral Letter – Rev Alexander McPherson
        • Joseph MacKay
        • Book Review – Forerunner of the Great Awakening
      • June 2001
        • Blessedness
        • Church Information
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 1
        • Who Belong to the Visible Church?
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 3
        • Religion in the Highlands After 1688 – Part 3
        • Raising Questions Against Darwinism
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • July 2001
        • Cry Aloud Spare Not
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 2
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • Our African Missions – an Update
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Spring Visit to Ukraine
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • January 2001
        • Looking Forward
        • Book Review – The Government of the Church
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Faith, Its Nature, Origin and Effects
        • Thomas Halyburton and How God May Be Known
        • The Divinity of Christ
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 1
        • Keep a good conscience
        • God’s True Family
        • What is the Object of Faith?
        • Communion in Singapore
      • February 2001
        • Calling the Sabbath a Delight
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Prophet
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 2
        • Book Review – Daily Prayer and Praise by Henry Law
        • Psalm 122 – Henry Law
        • The enemies of the Christian
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
      • December 2001
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Book Review – Tell it to the Generation Following
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – Usefulness on the Personal Level
        • The Impossibility of Neutrality
        • “Christian”Entertainment
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • Church Information
        • Notes and Comments
        • A View From Zimbabwe
      • August 2001
        • “There They Preached the Gospel”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • “He Will Bless Us”
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • “He Delighteth in Mercy”
        • “The Voice of Christianity in Scotland”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Ian M MacLeod, Elder, Dingwall
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Catherine MacKenzie, Stornoway
        • Book Review – Southern Presbyterian Leaders 1683-1911
        • Book Review – The Westminster Confession of Faith, Milestone, Millstone or Manifesto?
      • April 2001
        • Sowing the Seed
        • The Duty of Nations to the Church
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 1
        • “The Finger of God”
        • Obituary – The late Miss Peggy Nicolson, Inverness
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Zimbabwe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2000
        • The Resurrection of Christ
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably
        • The believer is to put those sins… into the hands of Christ
        • The Puritans and the Ministry
        • Christ Glorifying God
        • Blessed Are They That Mourn
        • The Nature of Vital Piety (2)
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • October 2000
        • The Fear of God
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably (2)
        • He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches
        • The Puritans and the Ministry (2)
        • James Stewart
        • Christ Healing a Leper
        • Visits To Eastern Europe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2000
        • “What Are They Among so Many?”
        • Vain Religion
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Desired Haven
        • God may bear long with the wicked, but…
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • James Stewart (2)
        • The Temptation of Christ
        • Book Review
      • May 2000
        • The Church of God From Age to Age
        • Jesus of Nazareth passeth by
        • Rev Lachlan MacLeod (1918-1998) – Obituary
        • “So let him give”
        • The Solemn League and Covenant
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • June 2000
        • The Example of the Church in Smyrna
        • Eastern Europe – Spring 2000 Report
        • Church Information
        • The Nature of the New Birth
        • This is Indeed the Christ
        • Obituary The late Mr Alasdair Gillies, M.A., Elder, Dingwall
        • Report of Mbuma Zending Meeting – 29th April 2000
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Donsa One of the Pilgrims at Ingwenya
        • African Mission News
      • March 2000
        • Two Free Churches
        • Sermon The Gracious Invitation of Christ
        • The Rev John Sinclair of Bruan (1801-43)
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Regeneration Regulating the Affections
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • July 2000
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Church Information
        • Lift up a Standard for the People
        • At the Westminster Assembly
        • The Earth Corrupt before God
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Obituary – The late Mr Kenneth Gillies, Elder, Raasay
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2000
        • The Rev. Christopher Munro (1817-85)
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • “Come unto me”
        • Joy and Peace in Believing
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Negotiations in London
        • Obituary
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Scottish Day Conference
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2000
        • Another Millennium
        • Notes of a Sermon The Earth Filled with His Glory
        • The Second Coming of Christ – Three Main Views
        • The Latter Day Glory
        • Building up the Church of God
        • Princeton Seminary – The Majestic Testimony by David Calhoun.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • December 2000
        • The Divine Saviour
        • A Sermon by John Kennedy
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • The Late Roderick Macleod,
        • The Aberdeen Church
        • Book Reviews
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2000
        • Where Are We Now?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Given in His Fulness
        • Alexander Henderson
        • I cannot always come to Christ
        • Obedience to Christ
        • The Nature of Vital Piety
        • The Puritans for Today
        • Protestant View
      • April 2000
        • The Family Under Attack
        • Sermon
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • The King in Scotland
        • Comments on Psalm 51
        • Unsettling the Settlement
        • The pope’s visit to the Holy Land
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • October 1999
        • Declaring All the Counsel of God
        • Church Information
        • God so Loved the World
        • The Rev. James S. Sinclair
        • The Glasgow Assembly
        • Calvin’s View of the Millennium
        • Book Review
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Annual General Meeting
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 1999
        • Old Testament Types
        • Church Information
        • Christ Seeing of the Travail of His Soul
        • Alexander Stewart of Cromarty
        • The Intercession of Christ
        • Resolved to Abolish Episcopacy
        • “And the sun was darkened”
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 1999
        • Morality and Politics
        • Church Information
        • Sermon
        • Rev Alexander Morrison (1925-1999) – Obituary
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • Casting down the Walls of Jericho
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 1999
        • “Upon this rock I will build my church”
        • The Blessed Poor
        • Rev Angus Mackay
        • Is Christ our High Priest?
        • Signs of Religious Declension
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • March 1999
        • Heaven-provoking Legislation
        • Church Information
        • The Drawing Power of the Cross
        • The Alpha Course Examined
        • Teaching Christianity in Scottish Schools
        • The late Mrs Margaret Tallach, Glasgow
        • Letter by John Love, D.D.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
      • June 1999
        • Made a Faithful Shepherd
        • Notes and Comments
        • How May Sanctification Be Attained?
        • Protestant View
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting Report
        • Address to Mbuma Zending Meeting
        • Spiritual Pride in Man
        • Church Information
        • Preaching the Unsearchable Riches of Christ
        • The Free Church and the World
      • January 1999
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • Church Information
        • Let me see thy countenance
        • The Religion of the Highlands
        • Personal Creed and Resolutions
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe Mission
      • July 1999
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Pre-eminence of Christ
        • A Man Who Wished to Live Obscurely
        • The Nature of Saving Faith
        • The Light of the World
        • God is: therefore God is to be Worshipped
        • Book Review
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
      • February 1999
        • The Purposes of the Lord’s Supper
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society – Appointments
        • The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God
        • Holy Importunity in Prayer
        • A Heavenly Eternal Crown of Glory
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • December 1999
        • The End of a Millennium
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Until the Day Break
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • The Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Dingwall
        • The Pagan Origin of Christmas A Reminder
        • Ministers Prepared by Temptation
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 1999
        • The Advance of Rome under Hume
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • The Marks of a Time of Revival, and the Means of Bringing it About
        • The Free Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Thy Kingdom Come
        • The National Covenant
        • Work of the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1998
        • Unsettled and Discouraged?
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
      • April 1999
        • The Observance of Easter
        • The Smitten Shepherd and His Flock
        • The Prince of Highland Preachers
        • The Inter-Faith Movement
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 1998
        • The Golden Key of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Weighed in the Balances
        • Christ, the Way
        • Praying as Beggars
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Our African Mission
        • Patrick Mzamo – A sketch of an African elder and lay-preacher
      • October 1998
        • The Westminster Assembly and Romanism
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Christ Liveth in me *
        • God’s Way of Bringing Sinners to Christ
        • The Effects of Television Violence
        • Sin and Sanctification
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Philemon Ndebele
      • November 1998
        • Faithfulness or Vilification
        • Church Information
        • The Best Security in Evil Times
        • Pentecostal Dialogue with Rome
        • The Prayers of the Aged
        • The Religion of the Highlands – The Persecution of a Highland Laird
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission Work
      • May 1998
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • A Vessel Meet for the Master’s Use
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Serving the Lord with Humility
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland on the Internet
        • Booklet Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Story of Mamlotshwa
      • March 1998
        • A Minister of God
        • “I will yet for this be inquired of”
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Godliness With Contentment
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Private Prayer and Public Profession
        • Truth and Life
        • The Free Church, Psalms and Hymns
      • June 1998
        • Family Worship
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Ngwenya – Mother of the late Rev. B. B. Dube
        • Church Information
        • The Lord is Risen Indeed
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Church of Scotland and the Bible
        • Mbuma-Zending Meeting – 1998
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
      • July 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Church Information
        • The Scriptural Warrant for Creedal Subscription
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • A Cambuslang Case of Conversion
        • Booklet Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
      • January 1998
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • MaHlabangana
        • Winter Visit to Eastern Europe
        • THE NEW YEAR
        • The Church Built and Kept by the Lord
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Fruits of the Declaratory Act In the Free Church of Scotland
        • Redeeming the Time
        • African Mission News
      • February 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • A Mission Day of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Leaning Upon her Beloved
        • Brought Home to Heaven
        • Observing the Sabbath
        • Church Deputy’s Visit to North America
        • African Mission News
        • A Faithful Ambassador is Health
      • December 1998
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • “My grace is sufficient for thee”
        • The People of the Great Faith
        • Sudden Conversions
        • A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ
        • “Give ye them to eat”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • August 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Sermon – The House of Many Mansions
        • Lessons From the Doctrine of Divine Justice
        • Book Notice
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Paul Magaya – Lay Preacher in Shangani
        • Church Information
      • April 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
        • The Manner of Coming to Christ
        • Book Notice
        • A Lily from the Ukraine
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • Called of God
        • Threats to our Religious Liberties
        • Mazwabo’s Amazing Transformation
    • 2004 to 2011
    • 2012 to 2019
    • 2020 to 2022
  • Young People’s Magazine
    • 2012 to 2019
    • 2003 to 2011
    • 2020 to 2022
  • Gaelic Supplement – An Earrann Ghàidhlig
  • Synod Reports
  • Religion and Morals Committee Reports

Latest Articles

  • June 2022 Magazines now available online
  • Special Offers on New Books for June
  • Synod Resolution re The Church of Scotland’s Declaration of Friendship with the Roman Catholic Church

Recently Added Audio

  • Joyful expectations from God’s faithfulness. 27 Jun 2022
  • Jesus – the bankrupt sinner’s Friend. 26 Jun 2022
  • The life of grace in the soul. 24 Jun 2022
  • Free grace healing a sin-sick soul. 23 Jun 2022
  • ‘Not silent in the night’ 12 Jun 2022
  • Christ a Priest for ever 19 Jun 2022
  • Sitting at the King’s table 19 Jun 2022
  • A prophecy of Christ as King entering Jerusalem. 12 Jun 2022
  • The parable of the talents (2) 12 Jun 2022
  • A provision for sinners 5 Jun 2022

View All Sermons

Download Latest Issues:
The Free Presbyterian Magazine
Young People’s Magazine

Free Presbyterian Places of Worship

Browse the Church Bookshop

Special Offers on New Books This Month

Conversations with a Dying Man by Samuel Rutherford, £3.95

Old Paths by J C Ryle, £11.99

Mfundisi Tallach: A Man with a Burden for Souls by Catherine Tallach, £8.00

The Plain Mr Knox by Elizabeth Whitley, £6.39

Redemption: Accomplished and Applied by John Murray, £5.59

(Postage is extra.)
Available from the Free Presbyterian Bookoom.

Back to top

Website Contact

Rev Keith M Watkins
[email protected]

Moderator of Synod

Rev Donald A Ross
Free Presbyterian Manse
Laide
Ross-shire
IV22 2NB
[email protected]

Clerk of Synod

Rev Keith M Watkins
Free Presbyterian Manse, Ferry Road, Leverburgh, Isle of Harris, HS5 3UA, UK.
[email protected]

General Treasurer

Mr William Campbell
133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow,
G3 6LE, UK.
[email protected]

Copyright © 2022 Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland · Log in · Subscribe via RSS · Privacy Notice