| Northern Presbytery | 44,766.27 | 3,052.65 | 7,769.13 | 1,448.94 | 1,514.32 | 1,998.71 | 1,589.61 | 1,256.58 | 63,396.21 |
|—————————|———–|———-|———-|———-|———-|———-|———-|———-|———–|
| Southern Presbytery | 42,769.77 | 3,192.50 | 7,397.00 | 2,401.72 | 2,065.22 | 2,917.91 | 1,869.16 | 1,859.50 | 64,472.78 |
| Outer Isles Presbytery | 45,814.35 | 1,923.66 | 4,278.00 | 1,495.37 | 1,339.67 | 1,222.67 | 1,326.66 | 1,163.00 | 58,583.38 |
| Western Presbytery | 30,699.54 | 1,588.33 | 2,891.34 | 1,167.50 | 817.00 | 1,191.00 | 870.00 | 720.00 | 39,944.71 |
| Skye Presbytery | 25,435.38 | 1,335.17 | 4,174.16 | 1,495.34 | 602.84 | 925.32 | 904.34 | 1,028.40 | 35,900.95 |
| Australia/N.Z. Presbytery | 0.00 | 54.90 | 2,332.16 | 296.57 | 209.19 | 1,487.93 | 197.60 | 133.92 | 4,712.27 |
| Canadian Presbytery | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Sub-total | £ 189,485.31 | £ 11,147.21 | £ 28,841.79 | £ 8,305.44 | £ 6,548.24 | £ 9,743.54 | £ 6,757.37 | £ 6,181.40 | £ 267,010.30 |
|———————|———————|——————–|——————–|——————-|——————-|——————–|——————-|——————-|———————|
| Eastern Europe Fund | | | | | | | | | 9,284.36 |
| Donations | 898.52 | 15.00 | 10,924.43 | 41.00 | 0.00 | 1,215.00 | 22.00 | 20.00 | 12,935.95 |
| GRAND TOTALS | £ 190,183.83 | £ 11,162.21 | £ 39,766.22 | £ 8,346.44 | £ 6,548.24 | £ 10,958.54 | £ 6,779.37 | £ 6,201.40 | £ 269,230.61 |
* The following sums were contributed to the local Australia & N.Z. Sustentation Fund:
| Auckland | NZ\$ | 4,764.00 | Grafton | AU\$ | 17,752.32 |
|————|——|———–|———|——|———–|
| Gisborne | NZ\$ | 10,800.00 | Sydney | AU\$ | 1,500.00 |
| Hastings | NZ\$ | 1,500.00 | | | |
| Wellington | NZ\$ | 1,358.00 | | | |
baptism which God blesses must be a baptism accompanied by prayer. The sprinkling of water is not sufficient. The use of the name of the blessed Trinity is not enough. The form of the sacrament alone conveys no grace. There must be something else beside all this. There must be “the prayer of faith”. A baptism without prayer, it may be confidently asserted, is a baptism on which we have no right to expect God’s blessing.
Why is it that the sacrament of baptism appears to bear so little fruit? How is it that thousands are every year baptized, and never give the slightest proof of having received benefit from it? The answer is short and simple. In the vast majority of baptisms there is no prayer except the prayer of the officiating minister. Parents bring their children to be baptised, without the slightest sense of what they are doing . . . in evident ignorance of the nature of the ordinance they are attending, and as a mere matter of form. What possible reason have we for expecting such baptisms to be blessed by God? None! None at all . . . They are not baptisms according to the mind of Christ. Let us pray that the eyes of Christians on this important subject may be opened. It is one on which there is great need of change.
From Expository Thoughts on the Gospels by J.C. Ryle
John Welsh
Rev. K.D. Macleod
Continued from page 53 of the February issue
8. Almost Swallowed up with Sorrow
Banished in 1606, for the sake of the gospel, from Scotland to France by the Privy Council, at the command of the King, Welsh landed in Bordeaux. In the hope that a door would be opened for him to preach the gospel regularly in France, he went to La Rochelle to attend the National Synod of the Reformed Church of France, but was disappointed and had to return to Bordeaux.
There were several reasons for returning to Bordeaux. First, Welsh was expecting his wife at any time; for all he knew she might already be waiting for him. Then there was a nearby spa which had been recommended to him for his health; in particular he hoped that it might be of benefit to a limb which was described as palsied, possibly the result of the dampness of his cell in Blackness. And there was the opportunity for preaching – to the large numbers of Scots and English, probably seamen and traders who, especially in the summer months, gathered in that port. When Welsh, who
was of course not in the best of health, arrived in Bordeaux he was completely exhausted. But as soon as possible he began to preach in English. He did not wait for a licence from the government, and nobody objected to him preaching without one. Before another Sabbath came, however, he was unfit for preaching; in his own words, he was “under the hands of mediciners”.
He was also lonely, and doubtless concerned that his wife had not yet come, several weeks after he expected her arrival. He confided to his friend Robert Boyd, “O what joy and comfort were it to my soul to have one, in whose bosom of true commiseration and love I might pour out the distress of a wounded and bleeding soul that sometimes refuses to be comforted, and is troubled when a divine Majesty is thought upon! Dear and loving brother, my soul is wearied, and faints and longs for the day of deliverance, the which I apprehend not to be very far off from me, the which is not the meanest of my comforts, for I have given over looking for rest or consolation. . . . But the Lord’s appointed time is the best, the which, with patience and contentation, I would wait, having this for my consolation first, that it pleased my God to put me in His service . . . and still more, that it is His cross that I bear for His crown and kingdom.” News from Scotland added to his sadness: Andrew Melville had been removed from his university post in St Andrews, and the bishops were carrying everything before them. Then, six months after Welsh had left Scotland, a ship sailed into the harbour of Bordeaux carrying his wife and children. A true daughter of John Knox she was, and her husband could write about her, “I thank my God she bears the cross with comfort and contentation, the which unto me is no small comfort.”
Welsh spent nine days at the spa of Encausse, and when he returned to Bordeaux he was feeling much better and able to resume preaching. In July 1608 Welsh was appointed minister of Jonsac, a small town near Bordeaux. He was inducted there towards the close of the year. Welsh does not seem to have been happy in Jonsac, though he did write soon after going there: “I thank my God in Jesus Christ, who had made me to find mercy, and has not only opened the door, but also has poured some blessing upon the small beginnings.” It was at first a temporary appointment, but the next year the provincial Synod, against Welsh’s wishes, made it permanent. He put his reactions in writing: “My uneasiness is great and I scarce know what I should do. Sometimes it appears best to me to leave this country rather than to be thus constrained by difficulties almost unsupportable. I cannot write what I would, but I am in exceeding great anguish. . . . My troubles are
greatly multiplied upon me. I think they will, at least, shorten my life, for I have never had the like.” Welsh appealed against the decision of the provincial synod to the National Synod, who, without reversing the decision, did ask the lower courts to provide him another charge if he was still unhappy in Jonsac.
More than one other congregation expressed interest in having Welsh as their minister, but for one reason or another nothing came of these suggestions. But his reputation in France was increasing, even although he had to preach in what was to him a foreign tongue. Comment was passed on his boldness and authority when preaching before the University of Sedan, where Andrew Melville, persona non grata in his native Scotland, was now a professor. It was a learned congregation, but Welsh addressed them in the same way as he would have preached to an ordinary, uneducated gathering in Selkirk or in Ayr. Boyd recorded in his commentary on Romans: “Concerning . . . the thought of God’s presence inspiring His servant with confidence before men, I shall certainly never forget the answer of a worthy man and excellent minister (John Welsh was that person) who, when I observed the liberty which he used in proclaiming God’s Word in a foreign country, in a foreign language, and to a foreign nation, and ingenuously professed to him my admiration of so great boldness, thus replied from the bottom of his heart, and with a countenance indicating sympathy and compassion, not contempt or disdain: ‘Ah, how can I take into account, or fear, the face of man when I reflect, and consider myself, as standing in the presence of that holy and gracious Majesty, whose Word I declare, under His eye, to His servants and creatures?'”
Welsh was very anxious to move from Jonsac. None of the family enjoyed good health there, perhaps due to the miserable accommodation provided for them. But no one showed any concern, and no one bothered to get them somewhere better to live. Nor was he paid properly. He told Boyd, “My family have been, and yet are exercised with continual affliction. I am almost swallowed up with sorrow; one grief tumbles on upon another. . . . I have none unto whom I may communicate them, and from whom I may receive any consolation. I know it is the hand of the Almighty. The cup is bitter, but I trust the fruit will be sweeter. . . . My soul is consumed and withered, but the Lord will send deliverance when it shall please Him. . . . You will pity my sorrows and recommend them unto Him who is the God of consolation and knows how to comfort the abject and humble.” And two months later: “Besides many sad things within, I have to bear much from without, from the ingratitude of this people with whom I am, and whom I
have served, and whom I think I shall be constrained to leave.” He was looking for the opening of a door elsewhere, to a congregation where he would be in a better position to advance the kingdom of God.
Although he felt so strongly about the treatment he was receiving in Jonsac, Welsh did not retreat into lethargy. In 1612 he published a book in French, entitled, The Armageddon of the Apocalyptic Babylon. His purpose was, to quote his own words, “to consider the resemblance between the Romish Church and the figures divinely appointed to symbolise her, and to make known her character. She is symbolised by a city and a great city, by Sodom, by Egypt, by the place where Christ was crucified, and by Babylon.” Welsh complained about the mistakes made by the printer, but it is said that the author’s use of the French language was excellent. And, before he sent the book to the printer, he showed it to some of his French ministerial brethren, who earnestly encouraged him to proceed with its publication as soon as possible.
(To be continued)
Book Review
The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson. The Banner of Truth Trust. Paperback, 122 pages. Price £1.95 from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom, 133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6LE.
THE writings of Thomas Watson (c1620-1686) are characterised not only by scriptural soundness and spiritual richness but also by clarity, conciseness, pithiness, and striking illustrations. This is evident in this little book about repentance, which the publishers first reprinted in 1987 (and from which we give some extracts in another part of this issue).
As would be expected from this illustrious minister, the truth is presented in a most balanced manner. He shows that repentance is both a grace and a duty, as he deals with ‘Counterfeit Repentance’, ‘The Nature of Repentance’, ‘Reasons Enforcing Repentance’, ‘Exhortations’ and ‘Motives to Repent’, the ‘Trial of our Repentance’, ‘The Removing of Impediments to Repentance’ and ‘Means for Repentance’.
He leaves the reader in no doubt that sinners are commanded by God to repent: that they not only have a great need, but also a solemn responsibility, to repent – and to repent without delay. At the same time he shows that repentance is a gift, and that we must have recourse to God for it. “It is His gift… The Arminians hold that it is in our power to repent. We can harden our hearts, but we cannot soften them. This crown of free-will is fallen from our
head… Therefore beg of God a repentant heart.”
He says about the inseparable connection between repentance and faith, “There can be no separation from sin till there be union with Christ. The eye of faith looks on mercy, and that thaws the heart. Faith carries us to Christ’s blood, and that blood mollifies. Faith persuades of the love of God, and that love sets us a-weeping.” Which comes first, faith or repentance? “I am apt to think,” he says, “that the seeds of faith are first wrought in the heart. As when a burning taper is brought into a room the light shows itself first, but the taper was before the light, so we see the fruits of repentance first, but the beginnings of faith were there first.”
Here is a book for both unconverted people, who yet love and live in sin, and believers, who “must offer up a daily sacrifice of tears” because “the issue of godly sorrow must not be stopped till death”. The minister of the gospel who is familiar with Thomas Watson’s works can testify to the fact that they are stimulating and suggestive. A little of Watson’s writing goes a long way. We hope that this reissued title will be spiritually profitable to many.
N.M.R.
Thomas Watson on Repentance
The following sayings have been taken from Watson’s Doctrine of Repentance, published by the Banner of Truth, a review of which appears above. – Ed.
Repentance, says Watson, is a great duty incumbent upon men; ‘Repent therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out’ (Acts 3:19). “Repentance is a grace required under the Gospel. Some think it legal; but the first sermon Christ preached, indeed, the first word of His sermon, was ‘Repent’ (Mat 4:17). . . Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.”
In speaking about repentance being wrought by the word and Spirit of God, and the different effects the word has upon men, he asks what is the reason the word works so differently. “It is because the Spirit of God carries the word to the conscience of one and not of the other. One has received the divine unction and not the other (1 John 2:20). O pray that the dew may fall with the manna, that the Spirit may go along with the word. The chariot of ordinances will not carry us to heaven unless the Spirit of God join Himself to this chariot (Acts 8:29).”
In describing the “special ingredients of sin”, he says about the need to
have a “sight of sin”: “Many who can spy faults in others see none in themselves… They are veiled over with ignorance and self-love; therefore they see not what deformed souls they have. The devil does with them as the falconer with the hawk; he blinds them and carries them hooded to hell.”
With regard to “sorrow for sin”, another special ingredient, he says, “A true penitent labours to work his heart into a sorrowing frame. He blesses God when he can weep; he is glad of a rainy day, for he knows that it is a repentance he will have no cause to repent of.” On the other hand, some people “cannot endure a serious thought, nor do they trouble their heads about sin… They spend their days in mirth; they fling away sorrow and go dancing to damnation.”
Those who do not have the ingredient of “shame for sin” are also far from repentance. “The devil has stolen shame from men.” Many are like “one of the persecutors in Queen Mary’s time, who when he was upraised for his bloodiness to the martyrs, replied, I see nothing to be ashamed of.’… There is no creature capable of shame but man. The brute beasts are capable of fear and pain, but not of shame. You cannot make a beast blush. Those who cannot blush for sin do too much resemble the beasts.”
The ingredient of “turning from sin”, like the other ingredients, is present when there is a change wrought by the Holy Spirit. “A ship is going eastward; there comes a wind which turns it westward. Likewise a man was going hellward before the contrary wind of the Spirit blew, turned his course, and caused him to sail heavenwards.”
Being merely morally upright and “civil” (in the old sense of orderly, sober, decent) is insufficient. “They are but half-turned who turn only from gross sin but have no intrinsic work of grace. They do not prize Christ or love holiness. It is with civil persons as with Jonah; he got a gourd to defend him from the heat of the sun, and thought he was safe, but a worm presently arose and devoured the gourd. So men, when they are turned from gross sin, think their civility will be a gourd to defend them from the wrath of God, but at death there arises the worm of conscience, which smites this gourd, and then their hearts fail, and they begin to despair.”
National turning from sin is required as surely as personal. “It is to be feared that England is in God’s black book… Indeed, men’s sins are grown daring, as if they would hang out their flag of defiance and give heaven a broadside. The sinners in Britain even send God a challenge. They strengthen themselves against the almighty, they run upon… the thick bosses of his bucklers’ (Job15:25,26). The bosses [the protruding knobs] in a buckler [shield] are for offence in war. Gods precepts and threatenings are,
as it were, the thick bosses of His buckler whereby He would deter men from wickedness. They regard not, however, but are desperate in sin and run furiously against the bosses of God’s buckler.”
In exhorting to repentance he insists that “repentance is necessary for God’s people” as well as others. “Repentance is a continuous act… Search with the candle of the word into your hearts and see if you can find no matter for repentance there. Repent of your rash censuring… Repent of your vain thoughts… of your vain fashions… of your decays in grace… of your non-improvement of talents… of your forgetfulness of sacred vows… of your unanswerableness to blessings received. May not God sue you at law for your unthankfulness… Repent of your worldliness… your divisions… the iniquity of your holy things.”
It is a “powerful motive to repentance” that there is “none so joyful as the penitent. Tears, as the philosopher notes, have four qualities: they are moist, salt, hot and bitter. It is true of repenting tears. They are hot, to warm a frozen conscience; moist, to soften a hard heart; salt, to season a soul putrifying in sin; bitter, to wean us from the love of the world. And I will add a fifth. They are sweet, in that they make the heart inwardly rejoice: and sorrow shall be turned into joy” (Job41:22).”
In several allusions to David’s prayer in Psalm 56:8, “…put thou my tears into thy bottle…, ” Watson says: “Worldly tears fall to the earth, but godly tears are kept in a bottle… Some have lived many years, yet never put a drop in God’s bottle, nor do they know what a broken heart means… We should repent now, that we have sinned so much and wept so little: that God’s bag (Job14:17) has been so full and His bottle so empty… When we put water into the pump, it fetches up only water, but when we put tears into God’s bottle, this fetches up wine.”
Then, at last, “God will lead his penitents from the house of mourning to His banqueting house.” “To conclude,” says Watson at the end of one chapter, “the true penitent may look on death with comfort. His life has been a life of tears, and now at death all tears shall be wiped away.”