Livingstone, Lady Culross & the Kirk of Shotts revival

Yesterday marked the 349th anniversary of the death (in Rotterdam) of the Covenanter John Livingstone, who was minister in Stranraer from 1638-48. While he was here, ‘his ministry produced a great impression, and his communions were attended by crowds from Ireland’ (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). His diary is in Stranraer Museum.

Kirk of Shotts today

Livingstone is most well known, however, for a sermon he preached at the Kirk of Shotts Revival in June 1630. Livingstone records: ‘'The day in all my life wherein I found most of the presence of God in preaching was on a Monday after the communion in the churchyard of Shotts, June 21, 1630’. He then begins his account of what happened by telling us: ‘The night before I had been in company with some Christians who spent the night in prayer and conference’. One local minister later said that about 500 people were converted that day, and most of them proved to be genuine. This minister attributed what happened to the prayers of the people, saying ‘the night before being spent in prayer, the Monday’s work might be discerned as a convincing return of prayer.’

A flagstone in Edinburgh’s lawnmarket commemorating Lady Culross, unveiled in 2014

Stephen mentioned the above details in a recent sermon entitled ‘Praying for Revitalisation’. What is less well-known, however, is Livingstone’s account of the most memorable prayer preceding the communion. The prayer was by Lady Culross (Elizabeth Melville), the first woman in Scotland to have her writing published.

Livingstone’s record of what happened is preserved for us in Scottish Puritans (Banner of Truth, 2008), pp 346-7. It’s also on the Reformation Scotland website. Livingstone writes:

“At the communion in Shotts, in June 1630, when the night after the Sabbath was spent in prayer by a great many Christians in a large room, where her bed was; and in the morning all going apart for their private devotion, she went into the bed, and drew the curtains, that she might set herself to prayer. William Rigg of Athernie [sometimes spelt Ridge of Adderny] coming into the room, and hearing her have great motion upon her, although she spoke not out, he desired her to speak out, saying that there was none in the room but him and her woman, as at that time there was no other. She did so, and the door being opened, the room filled full. She continued in prayer, with wonderful assistance, for large three hours’ time.”

Lady Culross also penned the well-known encouragement to Rigg when he was imprisoned in Blackness Castle, that “the darkness of Blackness was not the blackness of darkness”. (p. 342).

Related Posts: John Livingstone Commemorated (2019)

More encouragement to prayer!

On Saturday, the RP Church of Scotland had a day of fasting and prayer in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today it is the turn of the Irish and North American RP Churches (along with their mission works in France, Spain, Chile and various other countries). Below is a helpful encouragement to prayer:

Some further prayer points to help guide our prayers at the current time have also been compiled.

You can read more about calls to prayer and fasting by the different RP Churches around the world on the RP Global Alliance website.

RPCS Day of Fasting & Prayer - 28th March

‘“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.’ - Joel 2:12-13

‘The fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself’ - Isaiah 58:5

God has pressed the pause button on normal life, not just for us, but for the world world. Daily life is different for all of us. And while we can’t say for certain why God has sent COVID-19, as Amos 3:6 says, ‘Does disaster come to a city unless the LORD has done it?’. Jesus said that such events bring with them a universal call to repentance (Luke 13:1-5). In the words of C. S. Lewis, such things are God’s ‘megaphone to rouse a deaf world’.

As one minister has said, ‘If our first impulse in all of this has not been prayer, God is raising his voice’.

Right throughout the Bible, plagues are meant to call us to repentance (Exodus 10:3; Amos 4:10; Revelation 9:20), both individually and corporately.

Along with other denominations such as the International Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales, and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland, the RP Church of Scotland has called for a day of fasting and prayer as an appropriate response to the current crisis.
The Canadian RP Churches will also be observing a day of prayer and fasting on Saturday specifically to tie in with us on Scotland. As they have put it, ‘praying together is a beautiful and blessed expression of the unity of the Church’.

Such a day provides an opportunity to:

Have an extended time of personal/family worship

Letting such times slip or descend into formalism may be the first thing to confess! If you would like Bible reading notes, the Let’s Worship God notes, produced by the RPCS, are available to read online.

Reflect on the current crisis in light of God’s word

One particularly helpful sermon preached in light of COVID-19 is ‘When God raises his voice’ (audio / transcript) by David Gibson in Aberdeen IPC. If you don’t have time for it all, his third point is particularly relevant to fasting and repentance in light of coronavirus.
Another helpful article is Responding to the Present Alarm.

Confess our sins as individuals (and families)

Confession of sin is a basic part of Christian prayer, but it’s easy just to be general - ‘and forgive my sins in Jesus’ name’. Or perhaps we just confess a few of the big, obvious sins in our lives. But one helpful list to work through is An A-Z of Hidden Sin.
In ordinary circumstances it might be good practice to work through a couple of these per day. But one of the reasons for setting aside a day of prayer is to provide time to search our hearts and confess our sin in more depth.

Confess our sin as churches

The fact that God has effectively cancelled Public Worship across the world as never before in the history of Christianity should make us ask how much we have really valued it. Some may need to confess not attending when they could have - others for being there in person but not properly engaging with it. Too often we have been ‘hearers of the word and not doers’ (James 1:22-23).

One idea might be to think of recent sermon series and confess how these things are not seen among us the way we should. For example:

- The Fruit of the Spirit: Simon Arscott (Gareth’s minister in London) recently shared a helpful congregational confession based on the Fruit of the Spirit.
- The Ten Commandments: The Larger Catechism (Question 104 following) lists duties required as well as sins forbidden by each commandment, with Scriptural references.
- The One Anothers: Even looking at the sermon titles may move us to confess areas where we haven’t lived up to the picture of a church that’s painted in the New Testament.

Confess our sins as a nation

In the words of the RPCI statement’s on COVID-19:

‘The nations of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have sought to write God out of national life. We have walked as though the God of the Bible was nothing more than an ancient myth, despite his existence being written in creation, in history, and in our consciences.

Created things have mattered more to us than the Creator. Our desire for self-fulfilment has over-written God’s good design for human flourishing. We have rejected his definition of marriage, and legislated against his image bearers in the womb. To our great shame, Jesus Christ, who was crucified to pay the debt for our sin and to bring us to God, is dishonoured daily in these islands’.

The RPCS statement says:

‘We call on our nation to repent of breaking its historical covenants (National Covenant 1638 and Solemn League and Covenant 1643) which began our apostasy from God and from the achievements of the Reformation; to repent of its disregard for the Law of God to pass heinous laws; to repent of the desecration of the Sabbath Day; of its lack of compassion for the weak and vulnerable, particularly in slaughtering the unborn in the womb; for its abuse of the Biblical institution of marriage; and numerous other grievous sins’.

Sing Psalms

In an article entitled ‘Practice Hospitality. Especially During a Pandemic’, Rosaria Butterfield writes:

‘Singing psalms is powerful spiritual medicine; by using our mouths and lungs to proclaim the Word in the hearing of others, we embody the way that the Word of God acts in our lives and in the world. Psalm-singing is an aid to repentance and spiritual clarity, and it provides the Christian with a bounty of strength, fortitude, and courage in the face of danger’. 

Pray for those most affected

Pray for wisdom for our governments, including the Prime Minister and First Minister. Pray for strength for doctors (including those in our own congregation) and other medical staff. Pray for those working on a vaccine. Pray for the sick and dying, and their families. Pray for those particularly isolated. Pray for those who have lost their jobs.

Don’t forget the gospel!

‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' - 1 John 1:8-9.

As Rosaria writes: ‘We pray as COVID-19 is rapidly spreading through every nation and tongue, that true and heartfelt repentance will usher in revival. We pray that Christian revival will spread faster than COVID-19.’.

Resources on Fasting

‘When you fast’ (Matthew 6:17)
’The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days’ (Luke 5:35)

Ahead of the RP Church of Scotland’s call for a solemn fast on Saturday, here are some resources on fasting.

(These are resources on fasting more generally - a follow-up post will provide some suggestions / resources with Saturday particularly in mind).

Sermon

The sermon below on fasting was preached in Cloughmills RPC by Joel Loughridge and is a very helpful summary of the topic.

Video

While the Bible only applies ‘fasting’ to food, the video is a helpful reminder that fasting isn’t an end in itself and one of the main reasons for it is to help us focus on God. Murray’s approach is shared by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who says, ‘Fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose’.

Book Chapters

‘Sharpen your Affections with Fasting’ in David Mathis, Habits of Grace (available free here)

‘Fasting for the Purpose of Godliness’ in Don Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Books

In light of the Coronavirus outbreak, David Gibson encouraged everyone in his congregation to buy and read A Hunger for God by John Piper, commenting ‘It offers the exact opposite advice of everyone else around us, even as we take every sensible health precaution.’ It is available for free here. It also has a useful appendix of quotes on fasting from throughout church history.

Gentle Reformation blog posts

James Faris - Activism, Apathy or Affliction?

‘Perhaps we have not seriously enough considered seasons of sincere fasting and prayer among God’s people - days of affliction of the body for the sharpening of the soul. In Scripture we see God’s people fasted for two primary reasons. First, they fasted and prayed when facing an insurmountable enemy or daunting task (e.g. 2 Chronicles 20:3ff, Ezra 8:21ff, Esther 4:15ff, Joel 2:12ff, Acts 13:2-3). Second, they fasted and prayed in brokenness over their sin and seek God’s forgiveness (e.g. Leviticus 16:30ff, 1 Samuel 7:5, Ezra 9:4ff, Nehemiah 1:3ff, Daniel 9:3ff, Jonah 3:5). Usually, the two purposes were intertwined.

Fasting is hard. It teaches us in the body that we are weak and sinful. It humbles us. It reminds us that we lack the strength and ability to effect any good or positive change in and of ourselves. The Lord gives this physical expression to accompany and intensify prayer as we are reminded that we are weak and that our enemies are far greater than we can overcome on our own.

Personal, secret fasts are appropriate, but the Lord also approves of public fasts, which are prominent in Scripture and are reflected in historic church documents like the Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 21’

John Calvin on the Why and How of Fasting

(For any who may want to look into the topic more deeply, some older resources are available here).

Global Day of Prayer for RP Ministers

The Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America, Ireland, Scotland and Australia have agreed to appoint the Lord’s Day, 6th October 2019 as a day for united prayer in all our congregations that God would raise up men to serve as pastors and missionaries. This is a keenly felt need in each of our denominations and it is a wonderful expression of our unity in the Gospel that we can join with one another in a day of prayer that will span the globe.

The RP Global Alliance have produced prayer points which highlight the number of churches currently without pastors in each country, along with the number of men currently being trained for ministry in each place. These numbers include the Japanese Presbytery, which is currently under the oversight of the RPCNA. You can read the prayer points here or download a PDF version here. Prayer points are also available in French and Spanish.