Repentance Tower

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Wed, 20/08/2025 - 00:00

Another small Scottish hill climbed. Trailtrow, this time, six miles north-west of Annan. It offers fine views, naturally, but it was a historical monument with an intriguing name which most drew my attention. Dating to 1565, there is a watchtower upon it, called 'Repentance', which is inscribed above its locked doorway. Many and varied have been the explanations for this name, from renegade Protestants, killers of prisoners, or some unrecorded but grisly escapade in those tedious and internecine Scottish feuds.

Repentance has become something of a dirty word, or a neglected one, at the very least. One of our members preached upon it quite recently, which has proved helpful. To repent means to turn around, change direction, alter one’s values. It is the opposite of simply reciting a prayer ‘accepting Jesus’ or following Him because He will do lots of nice things for us when we demand them. Those who do not repent of their sin even though they attend church and appear to follow Jesus have never truly been saved. They like the social aspect of religion, and they enjoy the comfort which believing in a powerful God inevitably brings, but of their own sinfulness they have little realisation, and when trials come, they reject God or harass His people, never having truly received grace. If climbing Repentance Tower is hard, repenting of deeply ingrained sin is harder still. Yet twice the scriptures speak of repentance being something that God’s enables or grants:

When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Acts 11:18

And

…in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth...

2 Timothy 2:25

Any who claim to follow Jesus but have never truly repented of sin are not truly following Him. Curiously, there is graveyard atop Trailtrow Hill, above, as well as the old tower. To follow Jesus means to change direction and walk His way; it means to die to self and stop living for our own pleasure. If you have not done this, then repent. And if you need a picture to help you grasp it, come up to Dumfriesshire and see it for yourself. The hill is steep, the tower is grim but the views are stunning. Beholding God from a breathless but repentant heart is more beautiful than merely imagining Him from the dark valley of human pride and self-satisfied conceit from which we came.