Following the deaths of the Glasgow martyrs in 1539, the council of the cruel hunted for more victims, finding six more that they killed in Perth. George Wishart was the next martyr after them, being hanged and burned at St Andrews in 1546. John Knox loved this godly prophet as his friend and mentor, writing that ‘He was a man of such graces as before him were never heard within this Realm, yea, and are rare to be found in any man.’
Having been educated at the University of Cambridge, he returned to Scotland, preaching the gospel and exposing the pagan idolatry that had crept into the church. Many churches closed their doors to him, so he preached to hungry crowds in the fields. His love for the people moved the hearts of the inhabitants of Dundee when he cared for them during a terrible plague there. One day, a priest who was driven by jealousy came to assassinate him, but Wishart swiftly disarmed the assassin of his knife. The crowd was incensed at this priest and would have lynched him, but Wishart intervened, forgave, and freed the man.
After preaching in Haddington he got ready to travel one frosty night to Ormiston. John Knox wanted to go with him, but Wishart prophetically said: ‘Nay, return to your bairns (pupils), and God bless you. One is sufficient for one sacrifice.’ Wishart had supper with others at the Lord of Ormiston’s home, and after singing Psalm 51, he went to bed. ‘Before midnight,’ related Knox, ‘the place was beset about so that none could escape’. The Earl of Bothwell took him to Edinburgh Castle where he was imprisoned, and then he was transported to the Sea Tower of St Andrews. Wishart was condemned by the church council, to be hanged and burned as a heretic at the west part of the castle near the priory.
When he came to the place of his death he knelt and prayed to Christ, then he addressed the watching crowd: ‘If I had taught men’s doctrine, I had gotten greater thanks by men. But for the true Evangel [gospel], which was given to me by the Grace of God, I suffer this day by men, not sorrowfully, but with a glad heart and mind… This grim fire I fear not: and so I pray you to do, if any persecution come unto you for the Word’s sake; and not to fear them that slay the body, and afterwards have no power to slay the soul… I know surely that my soul shall sup with my Saviour this night, ere it be six hours, for whom I suffer this.’ Next he prayed for those who had viciously persecuted and slandered him, saying, ‘I forgive them with all my heart.’
Lastly, before his death, he said to the people: ‘I beseech you, Brethren and Sisters, to exhort your Prelates [bishops] to the learning of the Word of God, that they may be ashamed to do evil, and learn to do good.’ The hangman fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness. Wishart kissed his cheek, and said: ‘Lo! Here is a token that I forgive thee. My heart, do thine office!’ With that he was hanged and his body burned, but as with the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton eighteen years before, another wave of Reformation would be released in Scotland.
‘‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9)
Image: George Wishart, from the Presbytery Hall, Edinburgh Theological Seminary, photo: Paul James-Griffiths