John Welsh

I have recently been reading about Rev. John Welsh. He was one of John Knox's sons-in-law, and he was a stalwart for the reformed faith in Scotland. Because of his godly stand Welsh was driven from Britain for a time and pastored some churches in France for a number of years. There is an interesting story about Welsh when he was ministering in one of these French villages. One evening a Catholic friar was traveling through the country and he needed a place to stay the night. He knocked on Welsh's door, and he was kindly received . . . although supper was over, the family made some special for the friar and then they led him to his bed chamber. In the middle of the night the friar awoke because he heard this constant whispering noise . . . he was greatly troubled by it and didn't know what it was. Next day the friar was walking in the fields in the area, encountered a local man, and told him all about the previous night staying with a Huguenot minister. The friar told the man that he thought the minister and the devil were conversing all night long. The local man told him he was mistaken, but that Welsh prayed more than any man in France and that is what he had heard.

That night the friar imposed on the Welsh family again because he wanted to test the minister. Late in the night the friar heard the same whispering . . . so he crept to John Welsh's bedroom to listen. He heard the minister praying to God in such a way as he never heard before. Next morning the friar came to the minister and said that he had been born in ignorance and raised in darkness . . . but now he wished to venture his soul with Rev. Welsh, and at the very moment declared himself a Protestant. Rev. Welsh welcomed him, encouraged him, and the man remained a fervent, constant Protestant until the day he died.