Like, as there was no place, either of Germany,
Italy, or France, wherein there were not some branches sprung
out of that most fruitful root of Luther; so likewise was not
this isle of Britain without his fruit and branches. Amongst whom
was Patrick Hamilton, a Scotchman born of high and noble stock,
and of the king’s blood, of excellent towardness, twenty-three
years of age, called abbot of Ferne. Coming out of his country
with three companions to seek godly learning, he went to the University
of Marburg in Germany, which university was then newly erected
by Philip, Landgrave of Hesse.
During his residence here, he became intimately
acquainted with those eminent lights of the Gospel, Martin Luther
and Philip Melancthon; from whose writings and doctrines he strongly
attached himself to the Protestant religion.
The archbishop of St. Andrews (who was a
rigid papist) learning of Mr. Hamilton’s proceedings, caused
him to be seized, and being brought before him, after a short
examination relative to his religious principles, be committed
him a prisoner to the castle, at the same time ordering him to
be confined in the most loathsome part of the prison.
The next morning Mr. Hamilton was brought
before the bishop, and several others for examination, when the
principal articles exhibited against him were, his publicly disapproving
of pilgrimages, purgatory, prayers to saints, for the dead, etc.
These articles Mr. Hamilton acknowledged
to be true, in consequence of which he was immediately condemned
to be burnt; and that his condemnation might have the greater
authority, they caused it to be subscribed by all those of any
note who were present, and to make the number as considerable
as possible, even admitted the subscription of boys who were sons
of the nobility.
So anxious was this bigoted and persecuting
prelate for the destruction of Mr. Hamilton, that he ordered his
sentence to be put in execution on the afternoon of the very day
it was pronounced. He was accordingly led to the place appointed
for the horrid tragedy, and was attended by a prodigious number
of spectators. The greatest part of the multitude would not believe
it was intended he should be put to death, but that it was only
done to frighten him, and thereby bring him over to embrace the
principles of the Romish religion. But they soon found themselves
mistaken.
When be arrived at the stake, he kneeled
down, and, for some time prayed with great fervency. After this
he was fastened to the stake, and the fagots placed round him.
A quantity of gunpowder having been placed under his arms was
first set on fire which scorched his left hand and one side of
his face, but did no material injury, neither did it communicate
with the fagots. In consequence of this, more powder and combustible
matter were brought, which being set on fire took effect, and
the fagots being kindled, be called out, with an audible voice:
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long shall darkness overwhelm
this realm? And how long wilt Thou suffer the tyranny of these
men?”
The fire burning slow put him to great torment;
but he bore it with Christian magnanimity. What gave him the greatest
pain was, the clamor of some wicked men set on by the friars,
who frequently cried, “Turn, thou heretic; call upon our
Lady; say, Salve Regina, etc.” To whom he replied, “Depart
from me, and trouble me not, ye messengers of Satan.” One
Campbell, a friar, who was the ringleader, still continuing to
interrupt him by opprobrious language; he said to him, “Wicked
man, God forgive thee.” After which, being prevented from
further speech by the violence of the smoke, and the rapidity
of the flames, he resigned up his soul into the hands of Him who
gave it.
This steadfast believer in Christ suffered
martyrdom in the year 1527.
One Henry Forest, a young inoffensive Benedictine,
being charged with speaking respectfully of the above Patrick
Hamilton, was thrown into prison; and, in confessing himself to
a friar, owned that he thought Hamilton a good man; and that the
articles for which he was sentenced to die, might be defended.
This being revealed by the friar, it was received as evidence;
and the poor Benedictine was sentenced to be burnt.
Whilst consultation was held, with regard
to the manner of his execution, John Lindsay, one of the archbishop’s
gentlemen, offered his advice, to burn Friar Forest in some cellar;
“for,” said he, “the smoke of Patrick Hamilton
hath infected all those on whom it blew.”
This advice was taken, and the poor victim
was rather suffocated, than burnt.
The next who fell victims for professing
the truth of the Gospel, were David Stratton and Norman Gourlay.
When they arrived at the fatal spot, they
both kneeled down, and prayed for some time with great fervency.
They then arose, when Stratton, addressing himself to the spectators,
exhorted them to lay aside their superstitious and idolatrous
notions, and employ their time in seeking the true light of the
Gospel. He would have said more, but was prevented by the officers
who attended.
Their sentence was then put into execution,
and they cheerfully resigned up their souls to that God who gave
them, hoping, through the merits of the great Redeemer, for a
glorious resurrection to life immortal. They suffered in the year
1534.
The martyrdoms of the two before-mentioned
persons, were soon followed by that of Mr. Thomas Forret, who,
for a considerable time, had been dean of the Romish Church; Killor
and Beverage, two blacksmiths; Duncan Simson, a priest; and Robert
Forrester, a gentleman. They were all burnt together, on the Castle-hill
at Edinburgh, the last day of February, 1538.
The year following the martyrdoms of the
before-mentioned persons, viz. 1539, two others were apprehended
on a suspicion of heresy; namely, Jerome Russell and Alexander
Kennedy, a youth about eighteen years of age.
These two persons, after being some time
confined in prison, were brought before the archbishop for examination.
In the course of which Russell, being a very sensible man, reasoned
learnedly against his accusers; while they in return made use
of very opprobrious language.
The examination being over, and both of
them deemed heretics, the archbishop pronounced the dreadful sentence
of death, and they were immediately delivered over to the secular
power in order for execution.
The next day they were led to the place
appointed for them to suffer; in their way to which, Russell,
seeing his fellow-sufferer have the appearance of timidity in
his countenance, thus addressed him: “Brother, fear not;
greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world. The
pain that we are to suffer is short, and shall be light; but our
joy and consolation shall never have an end. Let us, therefore,
strive to enter into our Master and Savior’s joy, by the
same straight way which He hath taken before us. Death cannot
hurt us, for it is already destroyed by Him, for whose sake we
are now going to suffer.”
When they arrived at the fatal spot, they
both kneeled down and prayed for some time; after which being
fastened to the stake, and the fagots lighted, they cheerfully
resigned their souls into the hands of Him who gave them, in full
hopes of an everlasting reward in the heavenly mansions.
About the year of our Lord 1543, there was,
in the University of Cambridge, one Master George Wishart, commonly
called Master George of Benet’s College, a man of tall stature,
polled-headed, and on the same a round French cap of the best;
judged to be of melancholy complexion by his physiognomy, black-haired,
long-bearded, comely of personage, well spoken after his country
of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lovely, glad to teach, desirous
to learn, and well traveled; having on him for his clothing a
frieze gown to the shoes, a black Millian fustian doublet, and
plain black hosen, coarse new canvas for his shirts, and white
falling bands and cuffs at his hands.
He was a man modest, temperate, fearing
God, hating covetousness; for his charity had never end, night,
noon, nor day; he forbare one meal in three, one day in four for
the most part, except something to comfort nature. He lay hard
upon a puff of straw and coarse, new canvas sheets, which, when
he changed, he gave away. He had commonly by his bedside a tub
of water, in the which (his people being in bed, the candle put
out and all quiet) he used to bathe himself. He loved me tenderly,
and I him. He taught with great modesty and gravity, so that some
of his people thought him severe, and would have slain him; but
the Lord was his defense. And he, after due correction for their
malice, by good exhortation amended them and went his way. Oh,
that the Lord had left him to me, his poor boy, that he might
have finished what he had begun! for he went into Scotland with
divers of the nobility, that came for a treaty to King Henry.
In 1543, the archbishop of St. Andrews made
a visitation into various parts of his diocese, where several
persons were informed against at Perth for heresy. Among those
the following were condemned to die, viz. William Anderson, Robert
Lamb, James Finlayson, James Hunter, James Raveleson, and Helen
Stark.
The accusations laid against these respective
persons were as follow: The four first were accused of having
hung up the image of St. Francis, nailing ram’s horns on
his head, and fastening a cow’s tail to his rump; but the
principal matter on which they were condemned was having regaled
themselves with a goose on fast day.
James Raveleson was accused of having ornamented
his house with the three crowned diadem of Peter, carved in wood,
which the archbishop conceived to be done in mockery to his cardinal’s
cap.
Helen Stark was accused of not having accustomed
herself to pray to the Virgin Mary, more especially during the
time she was in childbed.
On these respective accusations they were
all found guilty, and immediately received sentence of death;
the four men, for eating the goose, to behanged; James Raveleson
to be burnt; and the woman, with her sucking infant, to be put
into a sack and drowned.
The four men, with the woman and the child,
suffered at the same time, but James Ravelson was not executed
until some days after.
The martyrs were carried by a great band
of armed men for they feared rebellion in the town except they
had their men of war) to the place of execution, which was common
to all thieves, and that to make their cause appear more odious
to the people. Every one comforting another, and assuring themselves
that they should sup together in the Kingdom of Heaven that night,
they commended themselves to God, and died constantly in the Lord.
The woman desired earnestly to die with
her husband, but she was not suffered; yet, following him to the
place of execution, she gave him comfort, exhorting him to perseverance
and patience for Christ’s sake, and, parting from him with
a kiss, said, “Husband, rejoice, for we have lived together
many joyful days; but this day, in which we must die, ought to
be most joyful unto us both, because we must have joy forever;
therefore I will not bid you good night, for we shall suddenly
meet with joy in the Kingdom of Heaven.” The woman, after
that, was taken to a place to be drowned, and albeit she had a
child sucking on her breast, yet this moved nothing in the unmerciful
hearts of the enemies. So, after she had commended her children
to the neighbors of the town for God’s sake. and the sucking
bairn was given to the nurse, she sealed up the truth by her death.
Being desirous of propagating the true Gospel
in his own country George Wishart left Cambridge in 1544, and
on his arrival in Scotland he first preached at Montrose, and
afterwards at Dundee. In this last place he made a public exposition
of the Epistle to the Romans, which he went through with such
grace and freedom, as greatly alarmed the papists.
In consequence of this, (at the instigation
of Cardinal Beaton, the archbishop of St. Andrews) one Robert
Miln, a principal man at Dundee, went to the church where Wishart
preached, and in the middle of his discourse publicly told him
not to trouble the town any more, for be was determined not to
suffer it.
This sudden rebuff greatly surprised Wishart,
who, after a short pause, looking sorrowfully on the speaker and
the audience, said: “God is my witness, that I never minded
your trouble but your comfort; yea, your trouble is more grievous
to me than it is to yourselves: but I am assured to refuse God’s
Word, and to chase from you His messenger, shall not preserve
you from trouble, but shall bring you into it: for God shall send
you ministers that shall fear neither burning nor banishment.
I have offered you the Word of salvation. With the hazard of my
life I have remained among you; now you yourselves refuse me;
and I must leave my innocence to be declared by my God. If it
be long prosperous with you, I am not led by the Spirit of truth;
but if unlooked-for troubles come upon you, acknowledge the cause
and turn to God, who is gracious and merciful. But if you turn
not at the first warning, He will visit you with fire and sword.”
At the close of this speech he left the pulpit, and retired.
After this he went into the west of Scotland,
where he preached God’s Word, which was gladly received by
many.
A short time after this Mr. Wishart received
intelligence that the plague had broken out in Dundee. It began
four days after he was prohibited from preaching there, and raged
so extremely that it was almost beyond credit how many died in
the space of twenty-four hours. This being related to him, he,
notwithstanding the importunity of his friends to detain him,
determined to go there, saying: “They are now in troubles,
and need comfort. Perhaps this hand of God will make them now
to magnify and reverence the Word of God, which before they lightly
esteemed.”
Here he was with joy received by the godly.
He chose the east gate for the place of his preaching; so that
the healthy were within, and the sick without the gate. He took
his text from these words, “He sent His word and healed them,”
etc. In this sermon he chiefly dwelt upon the advantage and comfort
of God’s Word, the judgments that ensue upon the contempt
or rejection of it, the freedom of God’s grace to all His
people, and the happiness of those of His elect, whom He takes
to Himself out of this miserable world. The hearts of his hearers
were so raised by the divine force of this discourse, as not to
regard death, but to judge them the more happy who should then
be called, not knowing whether he should have such comfort again
with them.
After this the plague abated; though, in
the midst of it, Wishart constantly visited those that lay in
the greatest extremity, and comforted them by his exhortations.
When he took his leave of the people of
Dundee, he said that God had almost put an end to that plague,
and that he was now called to another place. He went from thence
to Montrose; where he sometimes preached, but he spent most of
his time in private meditation and prayer.
It is said that before he left Dundee, and
while he was engaged in the labors of love to the bodies as well
as to the souls of those poor afflicted people, Cardinal Beaton
engaged a desperate popish priest, called John Weighton, to kill
him; the attempt to execute which was as follows: one day, after
Wishart had finished his sermon, and the people departed, a priest
stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs, with a naked dagger
in his hand under his gown. But Mr. Wishart, having a sharp, piercing
eye, and seeing the priest as he came from the pulpit, said to
him, “My friend, what would you have?” and inunediately
clapping his hand upon the dagger, took it from him. The priest
being terrified, fell to his knees, confessed his intention, and
craved pardon. A noise was hereupon raised, and it coming to the
ears of those who were sick, they cried, “Deliver the traitor
to us, we will take him by force”; and they burst in at the
gate. But Wishart, taking the priest in his arms, said, “Whatsoever
hurts him shall hurt me; for he hath done me no mischief, but
much good, by teaching more heedfulness for the time to come.”
By this conduct he appeased the people and saved the life of the
wicked priest.
Soon after his return to Montrose, the cardinal
again conspired his death, causing a letter to be sent him as
if it had been from his familiar friend, the laird of Kennier,
in which it was desired with all possible speed to come to him,
as he was taken with a sudden sickness. In the meantime the cardinal
had provided sixty men armed to lie in wait within a mile and
a half of Montrose, in order to murder him as he passed that way.
The letter came to Wishart’s hand by
a boy, who also brought him a horse for the journey. Wishart,
accompanied by some honest men, his friends, set forward; but
something particular striking his mind by the way, he returned,
which they wondering at, asked him the cause; to whom he said,
“I will not go; I am forbidden of God; I am assured there
is treason. Let some of you go to yonder place, and tell me what
you find.” Which doing, they made the discovery; and hastily
returning, they told Mr. Wishart; whereupon he said, “I know
I shall end my life by that bloodthirsty man’s hands, but
it will not be in this manner.”
A short time after this he left Montrose,
and proceeded to Edinburgh, in order to propagate the Gospel in
that city. By the way he lodged with a faithful brother, called
James Watson of InnerGoury. In the middle of the night he got
up, and went into the yard, which two men hearing they privately
followed him. While in the yard, he fell on his knees, and prayed
for some time with the greatest fervency, after which he arose,
and returned to his bed. Those who attended him, appearing as
though they were ignorant of all, came and asked him where he
had been. But he would not answer them. The next day they importuned
him to tell them, saying “Be plain with us, for we heard
your mourning, and saw your gestures.”
On this he with a dejected countenance,
said, “I had rather you had been in your beds.” But
they still pressing upon him to know something, he said, “I
will tell you; I am assured that my warfare is near at an end,
and therefore pray to God with me, that I shrink not when the
battle waxeth most hot.”
Soon after, Cardinal Beaton, archbishop
of St. Andrews, being informed that Mr. Wishart was at the house
of Mr. Cockburn, of Ormiston, in East Lothian, applied to the
regent to cause him to be apprehended; with which, after great
persuasion, and much against his will, he complied.
In consequence of this the cardinal immediately
proceeded to the trial of Wishart, against whom no less than eighteen
articles were exhibited. Mr. Wishart answered the respective articles
with great composure of mind, and in so learned and clear a manner
as greatly surprised most of those who were present.
After the examination was finished, the
archbishop endeavored to prevail on Mr. Wishart to recant; but
he was too firmly fixed in his religious principles and too much
enlightened with the truth of the Gospel, to be in the least moved.
On the morning of his execution there came
to him two friars from the cardinal; one of whom put on him a
black linen coat, and the other brought several bags of gunpowder,
which they tied about different parts of his body.
As soon as he arrived at the stake, the
executioner put a rope round his neck and a chain about his middle,
upon which he fell on his knees and thus exclaimed:
“O thou Savior of the world, have mercy
upon me! Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into Thy holy hands.”
After this he prayed for his accusers, saying,
“I beseech thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that have,
from ignorance or an evil mind, forged lies of me: I forgive them
with all my heart. I beseech Christ to forgive them that have
ignorantly condemned me.”
He was then fastened to the stake, and the
fagots being lighted immediately set fire to the powder that was
tied about him, which blew into a flame and smoke.
The governor of the castle, who stood so
near that he was singed with the flame, exhorted the martyr, in
a few words, to be of good cheer, and to ask the pardon of God
for his offenses. To which he replied, “This flame occasions
trouble to my body, indeed, but it hath in nowise broken my spirit.
But he who now so proudly looks down upon me from yonder lofty
place (pointing to the cardinal) shall, ere long, be ignominiously
thrown down, as now he proudly lolls at his ease.” Which
prediction was soon after fulfilled.
The hangman, that was his tormentor, sat
down upon his knees, and said, “Sir, I pray you to forgive
me, for I am not guilty of your death.” To whom he answered,
“Come hither to me.” When that he was come to him, he
kissed his cheek, and said: “Lo, here is a token that I forgive
thee. My heart, do thine office.” And then he was put upon
the gibbet and hanged, and burned to powder. When that the people
beheld the great tormenting, they might not withhold from piteous
mourning and complaining of this innocent lamb’s slaughter.
It was not long after the martyrdom of this
blessed man of God, Master George Wishart, who was put to death
by David Beaton, the bloody archbishop and cardinal of Scotland,
A. D. l546, the first day of March, that the said David Beaton,
by the just revenge of God’s mighty judgment, was slain within
his own castle of St. Andrews, by the hands of one Leslie and
other gentlemen, who, by the Lord stirred up, brake in suddenly
upon him, and in his bed murdered him the said year, the last
day of May, crying out, “Alas! alas! slay me not! I am a
priest!” And so, like a butcher he lived, and like a butcher
he died, and lay seven months and more unburied, and at last like
a carrion was buried in a dunghill.
he last who suffered martyrdom in Scotland,
for the cause of Christ, was one Walter Mill, who was burnt at
Edinburgh in the year 1558.
This person, in his younger years, had traveled
in Germany, and on his return was installed a priest of the Church
of Lunan in Angus, but, on an information of heresy, in the time
of Cardinal Beaton, he was forced to abandon his charge and abscond.
But he was soon apprehended, and committed to prison.
Being interrogated by Sir Andrew Oliphant,
whether he would recant his opinions, he answered in the negative,
saying that he would ‘sooner forfeit ten thousand lives,
than relinquish a particle of those heavenly principles he had
received from the suffrages of his blessed Redeemer.’
In consequence of this, sentence of condemnation
was immediately passed on him, and he was conducted to prison
in order for execution the following day.
This steadfast believer in Christ was eighty-two
years of age, and exceedingly infirm; whence it was supposed that
he could scarcely be heard. However, when he was taken to the
place of execution, he expressed his religious sentiments with
such courage, and at the same time composure of mind, as astonished
even his enemies. As soon as he was fastened to the stake and
the fagots lighted, he addressed the spectators as follows: “The
cause why I suffer this day is not for any crime, (though I acknowledge
myself a miserable sinner) but only for the defense of the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ; and I praise God who hath called me,
by His mercy, to seal the truth with my life; which, as I received
it from Him, so I willingly and joyfully offer it up to His glory.
Therefore, as you would escape eternal death, be no longer seduced
by the lies of the seat of Antichrist.: but depend solely on Jesus
Christ, and His mercy, that you may be delivered from condemnations
And then added that he trusted he should be the last who would
suffer death in Scotland upon a religious account.
Thus did this pious Christian cheerfully give up his life in defense of the truth of Christ’s Gospel, not doubting but he should be made partaker of his heavenly Kingdom.
