Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/153

Rh short of the utter annihilation of the national church; and every faithful minister, therefore, felt himself standing upon a. watch-tower, from which he was to look anxiously over the whole country, and sound the alarm whenever danger approached, let the quarter from which it issued be what it might.

To this duty, so full of imminent peril, M'Kail, as a preacher, was soon summoned. The bishops, who had been imposed upon the country by royal authority, complained that their offices were not respected, nor their behests obeyed ; and Middleton's mad parliament had passed, under the inspiration of wine and strong drink, that sweeping decree by which 400 ministers were ejected from their charges for non-compliance. It was in September, 1662, while this measure was impending, by which the best pulpits of Edinburgh as well as Scotland at large were soon to be deprived of their ministers, that Hugh M'Kail, who had frequently officiated in the city as a preacher with great acceptance, delivered his last public sermon in the High church, on the Sabbath before the edict was to take effect. His text was from Canticles I. 7; and in illustrating this passage as applicable to the persecutions which religion had generally endured, he declared that the "church and people of God had been persecuted both by an Ahab on the throne, a Hainan in the state, and a Judas in the church." He made no particular or personal application of this general truth; he merely stated it as a well-known historical fact; but so close was the parallel to the present state of affairs, that Charles II. was found to be the Ahab, the persecuting royal favourite, Lord Middleton, to be the Haman, and the apostate Sharp, now Archbishop of St. Andrews, to be the Judas Iscariot whom the preacher meant. To suspect was to convict and condemn, and a party of horse was sent to his residence near Edinburgh to apprehend him. But having received a hasty notice a moment previous to their arrival, he escaped from his bed into another chamber, and managed to elude the pursuers. He fled, in the first instance, to his father's house, where for a time he was safe from detection. But, as some victim was necessary, M'Kail's patron, Sir James Stuart, and Walter Stuart, his second son, were apprehended instead of the preacher, and accused of having listened to, or at least having been informed of, the aforesaid sermon, which "had maliciously inveighed against, and abused his sacred majesty, and the present government in church and state, to the great offence of God, and stumbling of the people;" and that, notwithstanding their knowledge of it, they had still continued to harbour and entertain its author. Both were imprisoned, and did not obtain their liberty until they had cleared themselves of the charge. In the meantime, M'Kail went abroad, and, as "Wodrow informs us, "accomplished himself in travelling for some years."

After a residence of four years upon the continent, Mr. M'Kail returned to Scotland in 1666. It was not to a peaceful home that he returned, for the persecution was hotter than ever; and in the desperate insurrection which commenced at Dumfries, and ended in the defeat at Pentland, he joined the devoted band, and shared in the toils and privations of their march until they came to Cramond, on their way to Rullion Green, where his strength, unfitted for such rough service, broke down, so that he was left behind. He then endeavoured to shift for himself; but while on his way to Libberton, he was set upon by some peasants on the watch for stragglers, and apprehended, his enfeebled state, and the light rapier which he wore, -being insufficient for the least resistance.