VirginiaHuguenot
Puritanboard Librarian
On December 22, 1666, a 26-year-old Scottish Covenanter named Hugh McKail was martyred for the faith. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister at age 20 but was ejected from his pulpit a year later by King Charles II. In a later sermon he held the persecuting authorities accountable for their actions against God's people. He said: "that the Scriptures give abundant 'evidence that the people of God have been persecuted, sometimes by Pharaoh upon the throne, sometimes by a Haman in the state, and sometimes by a Judas in the church.'" This statement ensured his death sentence when he was captured at the Pentland Rising in November 1666. He was tortured by the Boot before he was condemned but maintained a faithful witness to the end. As he stood on the scaffold he uttered these immortal words: "Now I leave off to speak any more with created beings and begin my communion with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell, father and mother, friends and relations! Farewell, the world and all delights! Farewell meat and drink! Farewell, sun, moon and stars! Welcome, God and Father! Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant! Welcome, blessed Spirit of grace, God of all consolation! Welcome glory! Welcome eternal life! Welcome death!" It is said that "his final speech made such an impression that some think it was the reason that soldiers soon after that began playing their drums loudly whenever a Covenanter tried to say a few last words from the scaffold."
For more on his life see: http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?cov_mackail.htm
For more on his life see: http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?cov_mackail.htm
