This week in Christian history: Andrew Murray ordained, Wigtown martyrs, William Tyndale pamphlet

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 08, 2022

The Wigtown martyrs – May 11, 1685

An old woodcut depicting the martyrdom of Margaret Lachlane and Margaret Wilson, who were drowned in the Solway Firth at Wigtown in Scotland in 1685. | Screengrab: christianhistoryinstitute.org

This week marks the anniversary of when Margaret Lachlane and Margaret Wilson were executed by drowning for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the Church.

Lachlane (sometimes rendered MacLauchlan), 63, and 18-year-old Wilson belonged to the Covenanter movement, which opposed royal interference in the Scottish Presbyterian Church and were known to refuse to pray for the king.

The two women were tied to wooden stakes and put in the Solway Firth at Wigtown to drown them, according to the website Reformation History, with Wilson given extra opportunities to recant her views.

“Then, just when [Wilson] was about to drown, the soldiers lifted up her head and asked her to pray for the king,” noted Reformation History.

“She answered ‘God save him if he will, for it is his salvation I desire.’ However when they asked her take the oath, she said ‘I will not, I am one of Christ’s children, let me go.’”