Josias Welsh

Scottish minister in Templepatrick

Josias Welsh
Personal details
Born	Josias Welsh also spelled Welch
Died	23 June 1634
Buried	Carmavy Cemetery, 30 Carmavy Road, Nutt's Corner, Antrim^[1]
Nationality	Scottish

Josias Welsh was one of the early Scots ministers who settled in Ulster in the 17th century.^[2] He was deposed for his adherence to Presbyterian principles. He was related to many other famous Presbyterian preachers being the grandson of John Knox, the son of John Welsh of Ayr, and the father of John Welsh of Irongray.

Life

Josias Welsh, second son of John Welsh and Elizabeth Knox, was educated in Geneva, and in 1617 was sent from France to Glasgow to complete his studies under the care of his father's friend, Robert Boyd of Trochrig, principal of a college. His superiority as a classical scholar led to his appointment as Professor of Humanity in the University; but being ardent in upholding the Presbyterian policy, he became obnoxious to the episcopal party, and so was compelled to relinquish his office. On the recommendation of Robert Blair, then a regent of Glasgow College, he proceeded to the north of Ireland, where a colony from the west of Scotland had been planted. Residing with Mr. Shaw, a gentleman from Ayrshire, who had probably known his father, he preached in his neighbourhood, on the opposite side of the Six-Mile Water.

For a time he officiated at Oldstone, and having been ordained by Andrew Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who is said to have regarded him as a relative , in 1826 he settled at Templepatrick, county Antrim, as chaplain to Captain Norton. Here he laboured with much zeal and acceptance. According to Wodrow he was popularly styled the Cock of the Conscience, from the earnest and searching nature of his ministrations. His Communion services excited a deep interest over a wide tract of country. With three other ministers he was, in 1634, suspended by Henry Leslie, Bishop of Down. The suspension was afterwards withdrawn, but he and his brethren were finally deposed by Bishop Echlin. From then on he preached in his own house, addressing a numerous body of persons who assembled in his garden. Through exposure he contracted a severe illness, which proved fatal. During his last hours he was attended by his brethren, Robert Blair and John Livingstone. He died on 23 June 1634. Among his last words were these, expressed rapturously, "Victory, victory for evermore." Within an enclosure in Templepatrick churchyard, a plain tombstone marks his grave; it presents the simple legend:

Here lyeth the Body
of the Reverend Mr Josias
Welch, minister of
Templepatrick, who
died Anno Dom. 1634.^[3]

Stephenson gives another epitaph:^[4]

"Here lies interred under this stone,
Great Knoxes grand child, John Welshes son ;
Born in Scotland, and bred up in France,
He then came to Ireland the gospel to advance."

Family

Josias Welsh, minister of Templepatrick, married subsequent to his settlement in Ireland, but his wife's name and the date of his marriage have not transpired. As his wife is not mentioned at the time of his death, it is probable she died before him. Appended to a declaration for settling the Province of Ulster, dated Carrickfergus, 23 May 1653, are the names of 260 persons, in the counties of Down and Antrim, whom Cromwell's commissioners proposed to remove to certain districts in Munster. Among these is named in the "Six-Mile Water" quarters, "Captain George Welsh." The Six-Mile Water district included the parish of Templepatrick, and those enumerated in "the Declaration" were persons obnoxious to Cromwell on account of their adhesion to monarchical and Presbyterian principles. From these considerations it is not improbable that Captain Welsh was a son of the minister of Templepatrick. So far as is known, there was in Ulster no other family of the name. The "Declaration" of Cromwell's commissioners not having been acted upon, Captain Welsh remained in Ulster, but his name does not reappear. John Welsh, minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray, in the county of Dumfries, is known to have been a son of Josias Welsh,^[5] and a great-grandson of John Knox and Margaret Knox.

Character

Josias Welsh was minister at Templepatrick in the north of Ireland, commonly called the Cock of the Conscience by the people of the country, because of his extraordinary wakening and rousing gift. He was one of that society of ministers which wrought that unparalleled work in the north of Ireland about the year 1636; but was himself a man most sadly exercised with doubts about his own salvation all his time, and would ordinarily say, that minister was much to be pitied who was called to comfort weak saints and had no comfort himself.^[6] Josias was the author of a short catechism.^[7]

References

Citations

^ "Rev. Josias Welsh, of Templepatrick". Geni. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
^ Howie 1870.
^ Rogers 1897, p. 148-149.
^ Stephenson 1825, p. 32.
^ Rogers 1897, p. 149-150.
^ Livingstone 1845, p. 9fn.
^ Blair 1848, p. 76fn.

Sources

Adair, Patrick (1866). A true narrative of the rise and progress of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (1623-1670). Belfast: C. Aitchison. pp. 20-41.
Blair, Robert (1848). M'Crie, Thomas (ed.). The life of Mr. Robert Blair, minister of St. Andrews, containing his autobiography, from 1593-1636 : with supplement of his life and continuation of the history of the times, to 1680. Edinburgh: Wodrow Society. pp. 75-626. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1853). Coleridge, Derwent (ed.). Notes, theological, political, and miscellaneous. London: E. Moxon. pp. 160–161.
Gillies, John; Bonar, Horatius (1845). Historical collections relating to remarkable periods of the success of the gospel. Kelso: J. Rutherfurd. p. 204. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
Howie, John (1870). "Josias Welch". In Carslaw, W. H. (ed.). The Scots worthies. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier. pp. 367–377. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Kirkton, James (1817). The secret and true history of the church of Scotland from the Restoration to the year 1678. Edinburgh: J. Ballantyne. pp. 16–23, 219. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910). The Livingstons of Livingston manor. New York: The Knickerbocker press. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
Livingstone, John (1845). Tweedie, William King (ed.). Select biographies. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: Printed for the Wodrow Society. pp. 327–328. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Middleton, Erasmus (1816). Evangelical biography : or, an historical account of the lives & deaths of the most eminent and evangelical authors or preachers, both British and foreign, in the several denominations of Protestants, from the beginning of the Reformation to the present time. Vol. 2. London: Printed for W. Baynes. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
Rogers, Charles (1897). Genealogical memoirs of John Knox and of the family of Knox. London: Printed for the Grampian club. pp. 148–150. Retrieved 8 July 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Reid, James Seaton (1853). A history of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, comprising the civil history of the province of Ulster from the accession of James the First ... Vol. 1 (3 ed.). London: Whittaker; [etc]. pp. 106–107. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
Stephenson, S. M. (1825). A historical essay on the parish and congregation of Templepatrick, compiled in the year 1824. Belfast: Printed by Smyth, 1825. pp. 30–33. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
Thompson, Mark (2006). "The Dawn of the Ulster-Scots - Part Five: The Arrival of the Presbyterian Ministers" (PDF). The Ulster-Scot July 2006. Archived from the original on 28 July 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
Thompson, Mark (2006). "The Dawn of the Ulster-Scots - Part Six: Three Ulster-Scots Spiritual Revivals,the Death of Montgomery and the "Eagle Wing" sets sail" (PDF). The Ulster-Scot July 2006. Archived from the original on 28 July 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
Thompson, Mark (2006). "The Dawn of the Ulster-Scots - Part Seven: Scotland's National Covenant, The Black Oath and the 1641 Massacre" (PDF). The Ulster-Scot July 2006. Archived from the original on 28 July 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
Wodrow, Robert (1834). Duncan, William J (ed.). Collections upon the lives of the reformers and most eminent ministers of the Church of Scotland. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Maitland Club. p. 262. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Young, James (1866). Life of John Welsh, Minister of Ayr. Edinburgh: John Maclaren. pp. 412–415. Retrieved 11 July 2020.