The Marytdom of the Scottish Covenanter Hugh M’Kail
By Jacob Tanner - Posted at Place for Truth: On December 22nd, 1666, the Market-Cross of Edinburgh was filled with a crowd of teary-eyed spectators. The cause of their lament was the young man of twenty-six-years-of-age who was being hung from the gallows before them. His name was Hugh M’Kail, a minister of the gospel, and Scottish Covenanter. Hugh M’Kail bore all the markings of a promising ministry. In 1661, he was ordained at age twenty to gospel ministry, and licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh. He was, evidently, well-respected, well-learned, and well-loved by the people of Scotland. He was known to be a man of great prayer, who would spend one day each week fasting as he prayed for the Church at large, and God’s Kirk in Scotland especially. As a Presbyterian and Covenanter, his public ministry coincided with a time of great persecution for those who practiced such things. With their adoption of Presbyterian church government, alongside a simplified worship holding to wha...
