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the laws of the kingdom ; on which account they were indicted to stand trial for treason at Linlithgow . Their trial was conducted in the most illegal and unjust manner . The king ' s advocate told the jury , that the only thing which came under thfcir cognizance was the fact of the declinature , the judges having already found that it was treasonable ; and threatened them with an assize of error , if they did not proceed as he
directed them . After the jury were impanelled , the justice-clerk went in and threatened them with his majesty ' s displeasure , if they acquitted the prisoners . The greater part of the jurors being still reluctant , the Chancellor went
out and consulted with the other judges , who promised that no punishment should be inflicted on the prisoners , provided the jury broqght in a verdict agreeable to the court . By such disgraceful methods , they were induced , at midnight , to find , by a majority of three , that the prisoners were guilty , upon which they were condemned to suffer the death of
traitors . Leaving her children at Ayr , Mrs . Welch attended her husband in prison , and was present at Linlithgow , with the wives of the other prisoners , on the day of trial . When informed of the sentence , f these heroines , instead of
lamenting their fate , praised God who had given their husbands courage to stand to the cause of their master , adding , that like him , they had been judged and condemned under the covert of
night . The sentence of death having been changed into banishment , she accompanied her husband into France , where they remained for sixteen years .
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Mr . Welch applied himself with such assiduity to the acquisition of the language of the country , that he was able in the course of
fourteen weeks to preach in French , and was chosen minister to a protestant congregation at . Neras , from which he was translated to St . Jean D'Atigely , a fortified town in Lower Charente . War
having broken out between Lewis XIII . and his protestant subjects , St . Jean D * Angely was besieged by the king in person . On this occasion , Welch not only animated the inhabitants of the town to
a vigorous resistance by his exhortations , but he appeared on J : he walls , and gave his assistance to the garrison . The king was at last admitted into the town in
consequence of a treaty , and being displeased that Welch preached during his residence in it , sent the Duke D'Espernon , with a company of soldiers to take him from the pulpit . When the preacher saw the Duke enter the church , he ordered his hearers to make
room for the Marshal of France , and desired him to sit clown and hear the word of God . He spoke with such an air of authority that the Duke involuntarily took a seat , and listened to the sermon with
great gravity and attention . He then brought him to the king , who asked him , how he durst preach there , since it was contrary to the laws of the kingdom for any of the pretended reformed to officiate in
places where the court resided . *• Sir / ' replied Welch , " if your majesty knew what 1 preached , you would not only come and
hear it yourself , but make all France hear it ; First , I preach that you must be saved by the merits of Jesus Christ , and not your own j ( and I am sure your
Untitled Article
454 Extracts from M'Crie ' s Life of Knox .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/6/
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