Hugh M'Kail, Part III

M'Kail was taken to the scaffold with five other men who were to die with him. At the bottom of the steps he sang part of Psalm 31, and then prayed with such fervency that many fell to tears. He then turned to go up the ladder, and he was heard to say, "I care no more to go up this ladder and over it, than if I were going home to my father's house." As he clambered up the ladder he turned to his fellow sufferers, and he said, "Friends and fellow sufferers, be not afraid, every step of this ladder is a degree nearer heaven." As the executioner put the rope around his neck, the people began to weep; M'Kail responded by saying, "Your work is not to weep, but to pray that we may be honourably borne through; and blessed be the Lord that supports me . . . so I hope you will not be wanting to me now in this last step of my journey, that I may witness a good confession." He closed his life by reading to the people the last chapter of the Bible, "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

Here is a Christian that, indeed, died well.