Here in America we are just seeing the beginnings of what it means to be hated for Christ's sake. Although we still retain our freedom to worship, with all the current effort to carve out a "politically correct" society, it is not difficult to see on the horizon a day when those freedoms could be limited or even removed altogether. Serious Christians can envision, I believe, the making of a government in our country which prescribes certain forms of "worship" and condemns others - really only one - fervent Christianity. Even now, it is alright to attend church, if that church conforms to the politically correct agenda. (The situation with the abortionist who was murdered comes to mind. He was loved and accepted in what could be termed a "politically correct" church.) I think this type of censorship must be how religious freedoms were seized in the past from other peoples and cultures.
One of those societies was Scotland in the 17
th century. There were numerous atrocities committed there toward Christians during a period that became known as "The Killing Times" (beginning in 1600). People were imprisoned, tortured, banished, hanged, beheaded or shot on sight for worshiping according to the dictates of their redeemed consciences.
At the same time, parish preachers were required by law to conform to state church hierarchy or be expelled from their congregations during "The Great Ejection" in 1662. These faithful men, who simply desired to love, worship and preach the crucified, risen and glorious Christ were branded, like animals, on the cheek with either a "C" (for
Covenanter) or "P" (for Puritan) and driven from their churches and even their homes.
With no safe haven in any village to flee to, they, along with their families were forced to make their homes in the hills, dwelling in caves or crude huts. Stripped of their annual salary, these preachers and their loved ones lived without so much as a roof over their heads. Having no income, they depended on their compassionate sisters and brothers in Christ for basic needs.
But this cruel banishment did not silence them. They continued to preach Christ whenever an opportunity arose and of course, they encouraged one another with Scripture. They knew too well the fugitive-life that David experienced when he was forced to escape from King Saul. The Psalms must have been especially comforting to their weary hearts in the cold, austere hills and caves of Scotland.
Standing out as one of the most ruthless acts of violence during the Killing Times was the murder of two women, faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Though an inexcusable atrocity, this case serves as a poignant witness of the loyalty and courage manifested by so many who have been persecuted for the sake of the Name. The two women, Margaret
Lauchlison and Margaret Wilson, were martyred by heartless men for their love for Christ and refusal to adhere to the prescribed worship of the state.
Lauchlison, a 63 year-old widow of a carpenter from the parish of
Kirkinner, was known for her devotion to her Savior and for her good deeds toward all. Wilson, a farmer's daughter and only 18 years of age from
Glenvenrock Farm in
Peinninghame parish had been mentored by the older Margaret. She had dissented from the state-run Presbyterian church, complacent as it was and which her parents attended, to join ranks with those who were were known as "
Covenanters".
For their loyalty to
Chirst and faithful obedience to His word, the women were tied to posts in
Wigtown Bay and drowned as the tide rose over their heads.
Lauchlison's stake was driven into the sands the furthest out in the tide so that she would drown first. This was done in hopes that Miss Wilson would recant and swear
allegiance to the king as she saw her spiritual mother struggling with death.
As this horrific scene opened, Margaret
Lauchlison's final moments
actually served to
embolden the younger woman's love for Christ so that she was all the more resolved to remain faithful. What her
tormentors had hoped would motivate her to recant, instead, insured that she would not.
What did Margaret Wilson see that flamed her passion for her Lord as the waves swept time and again over
Mrs. Lauchlison? She saw her faithful mentor fix her gaze upward, and heard her reciting Romans 8 and praying, even as she breathed her last. In the midst of this struggle, Wilson was asked by her captors what she thought of her widow companion now. She replied, "Ah, what do I see but
Christ wrestling there!" She saw in her mentor, the same sufferings she knew to be true of her Savior and considered her friend blessed for having experienced Christ's degradation.
Once the water had risen to threaten Wilson's own physical life, the soldiers withdrew her from her stake to safety and attempted to convince her that she should recant. They told her that her life would be spared if she would only say, "God save the King". Of course the King's salvation was something she had long prayed for so she answered, "God save him if He will, for it is his salvation that I desire."
This was not the answer Miss Wilson's tormentors were looking for. So they bound her once again to the stake and just as she was nigh to entering her eternity, they removed her again to higher ground, this time to be implored by her desperate and unbelieving father and mother to deny her Lord. After many entreaties by her parents and the soldiers, she gave her resolute answer once more, "No, because I love the Lord."
She was lashed again to her stake, the instrument by which she would enter heaven and see the One she so loved, along with her friend, Margaret
Lauchlison. As she waited for the inevitable, she too, like her mentor, recited Romans 8:35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
danger, or
sword? As it is written, '
For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither
death nor life, nor angels
nor rulers, nor
things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So on that cold day in January, 1681, both
Margarets entered into eternity with their kind Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Their martyrdom did not accomplish what was intended, rather it simply ushered them into an eternity with the Lord. They had not been separated from His love. They had been united in His love and His presence, where there is fullness of joy.
What an example of radical Christian womanhood! Paul commanded Titus, pastor of the church on the Island of Crete, to teach the older women to be reverent in their behavior, so that they could train the younger women in godliness (Titus 2:3-6). As Miss Wilson's mentor, the older Margaret had done just that. She not only trained her by her life, but Margaret
Lauchlison stood firm and faithful as the younger Margaret's example in death also - the example Miss Wilson, herself, followed not many moments later.
I wonder how many of today's Christian women (I include myself) are so resolute in their love for the Savior and so committed to nurture the younger generation of women for God's glory?
The Martyrs of Scotland by Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889)
There was gladness in Zion, her standard was flying,
Free o'er her battlements glorious and gay.
All fair as the morning shone forth her adorning,
And fearful to foes was her godly array.
There is mourning in Zion, her standard is lying
Defiled in the dust, to the spoiler a prey;
And now there is wailing, and sorrow prevailing,
For the best of her children are weeded away.
The good have been taken, their place is forsaken -
The man and the maiden, the green and the gray;
The voice of the weepers wails over the sleepers -
The martyrs of Scotland that now are away.
The hue of her waters is crimsoned with slaughters,
And the blood of the martyrs has reddened the clay;
And dark desolation broods over the nation,
For the faithful are perished, the good are away.
On the mountains of heather they slumber together.
On the wastes of the moorland their bodies decay.
How sound is their sleeping, how safe is their keeping
Though far from their kindred they molder away.
Their blessing shall hover, their children to cover,
Like the cloud of the desert, by night and by day.
Oh, never to perish, their names let us cherish,
The martyrs of Scotland that now are away.
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