‘Among the martyrs of Scotland, the constancy of Walter Mille is not to be passed over with silence,’ wrote John Foxe in his Book of Martyrs. Mill was the last reformer to die for his faith in Scotland during this period in which several dozen have been recorded. ‘Out of his ashes sprang thousands of his opinion and religion in Scotland, who altogether chose rather to die than to be any longer trodden over by the bishops, abbots, monks, and friars.’
In his younger days Mill had travelled to Germany where he heard the gospel clearly preached. He returned to Scotland after he had rejected the contrary views and practices of Romanism, and married a wife, thus breaking the papal law for a priest. The bishops suspecting him of heresy watched him closely, as he preached Christ to many in their homes and in the fields. He was arrested in 1558 and imprisoned at St Andrews Castle, where he was threatened with torture and death. On the 20th April he was taken out of his prison and put on trial at the age of 83. He was so weak from both age and mistreatment, that he had to be helped up into the pulpit in the church, where he sank to his knees in prayer. But when he rose to his feet, his voice suddenly became strong, stunning those who listened.
In front of the assembly of bishops, abbots, and scholars, he was cross-examined by Andrew Oliphant and accused of breaking the Romanist law of celibacy, and challenging the dogma of the church, such as the Mass. Of the pilgrimages practiced in that period he spoke plainly, exposing the corruption, saying that ‘there is no greater whoredom in any place, than at your pilgrimages, except it be in common brothels.’ Not surprisingly he infuriated those present whose concern was to hold on to power and wealth, caring little for Christ and his teaching. When challenged to recant or be burnt, he boldly stated: ‘I am accused of my life; I know I must die once, and therefore as Christ said to Judas, what thou doest do quickly. Ye shall know that I will not recant the truth, for I am corn, I am no chaff; I will not be blown away with the wind, nor burst with the flail; but I will abide both.’
The people in the town of St Andrews were so offended by the treatment of this godly man that they refused to sell cords or a tar-barrel to the bishop’s servants for the burning. At last the bishop managed to purchase the necessities for the execution and Mill was brought to his place of death. After falling to his knees in prayer, he stood on the unlit coals and spoke to the crowd gathered there. ‘Dear friends,’ he cried out, ‘the cause for which I suffer this day is not for any crime laid to my charge, albeit I be a miserable sinner before God, but only for the defence of the faith of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the New and Old Testaments… Be no more seduced with the lies of priests, monks, friars, priors, abbots, bishops, and the rest of the sect of Antichrist, but depend only upon Jesus Christ and his mercy, that ye may be delivered from condemnation.’ With that Mill was burned at St Andrews, being the last Reformation martyr in Scotland.
‘In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ (Psalm 56:11, NKJV)
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