4:12 Series- Margaret Wilson

 Margaret and Agnes Wilson stood before their judge. They had been found guilty of rebellion, and were about to receive their ‘just’ sentences. But what wrong had they done?

Rebels & Fugitives

Margaret, at eighteen years of age, was the eldest of three siblings, and Agnes was the youngest at thirteen. They, along with their brother, Tom, committed the great crime of denying that the king was the Head of the Church, because they were convinced from Scripture that the Church had only one Head, one King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

They were soon forced to escape to the mountains, to live in bogs and caves.

Caught!

In February, 1665, the sisters slipped into the town to meet some friends. Someone there asked them to drink to the king’s health, but they refused, saying that it was against Scripture and Christian moderation. Their cover was blown! They were seized and thrown into prison, where they suffered bitter cold and squalid conditions until their trial.

Thus they found themselves standing before Lord Grierson of Lag, a man who would be remembered for his savage persecution of the Scottish Covenanters. He commanded them to kneel, and when they refused, his men forced them to the ground. Satisfied, Grierson proceeded with the pronouncements. Agnes, being so young, would be released as soon as her father paid the stiff fine of 100 pounds. Margaret, on the other hand, was to be drowned alongside a fellow Covenanter, the elderly widow, Mrs. MacLachlan.

"Think Ye That We Are Sufferers?"

On the day of the execution, guards led Margaret and Mrs. MacLachlan out of their prison and onto the banks where the Blednoch River ran into the sea. Two stakes were planted in the sand, one for each woman. Mrs. MacLachlan, whose stake was planted lower down the banks, was the first to be enveloped by the cold waters.

As sea water filled the elderly lungs, the persecutors asked Margaret, “What do you think of her now?”

“Think ye that we are sufferers?” She replied, “No; it is Christ in us, for He sends none a warfare at their own charges.”

As the waters rose around her, she sang from the Psalter,

My sins and faults of youth
Do thou, O Lord, forget:
After thy mercy think on me,
And for thy goodness great.
God good and upright is:
The way he’ll sinners show;
The meek in judgment he will guide
And make his path to know.

Then, taking her greatest treasure, her Bible, she opened it up for the last time and read from the eighth chapter of Romans.

whom he justified, them he also glorified.

And,

we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Just before she drowned, the soldiers pulled her out, and Grierson demanded that she pray for the king. She sputtered that she wished the salvation of all men, and the damnation of none.

For this, they dashed her under the water, and pulled her out again. Some of the townspeople pleaded with her, “Oh Margaret, say it!”

She whispered, “Lord, give him repentance, forgiveness and salvation, if it be Thy holy will.”

Infuriated, Grierson screamed, “Damned bitch, we do not want such prayers!”

They threw her back into the waters and watched her drown. Afterwards, she was buried in an old churchyard alongside several others who had been martyred for the sake of the gospel.

Sources:

1. Jock Purves, Fair Sunshine: Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters.
2. Wikipedia, "Sir Robert Grierson, 1st Baronet".