John Mackillican was probably born near Nairn and, after being licensed to preach in 1655, it seems he became chaplain to the Earl of Sutherland. He became minister of Fodderty, in Ross-shire, in 1656. His enemies in the Dingwall Presbytery found his lack of Gaelic a very useful weapon. This did not interfere with his fidelity to the truth, nor did it keep back the Lord’s blessing on his labours when his opponents, who were probably masters in Gaelic, turned their backs on the truth.
In 1662 he was deprived of his charge by the Privy Council, and in 1663 he was deposed by the Diocesan Synod of Ross. In 1668, John Gordon, the Episcopal successor to Thomas Hog in Kiltearn, made a complaint that his ministry was hindered by his people attending conventicles held by Hog and Mackillican. Accordingly they were imprisoned for some time in Forres. Their imprisonment produced a profound sensation, and people came to see them from all parts of the district. They availed themselves of the opportunity of preaching Christ to their visitors, so they must have enjoyed a fair amount of liberty. The prisoners were at length liberated when the Earl of Tweeddale, without their knowledge, procured an order for their release.
At this time, Moray was blessed with such men as Hog, Mackillican, James Urquhart, Kinloss, and Thomas Ross, Kincardine. Many of the landed proprietors also gave clear evidence that they were born of the Holy Spirit. There were also noble ladies such as the Lady of Kilravock (in some respects the most notable of them all, though she died at the early age of 36) who cast in their lot with the persecuted servants of Christ. Then there was Liliias Dunbar (grandmother of James Calder, minister of Croy) who, in deep sorrow for the loss of her cousin Lady Duffus, was brought to the Saviour through the teaching of Thomas Hog and Thomas Ross.
In her diary she makes the following beautiful reference to her earthly loss and heavenly gain: “For brass I have gotten gold; for a fading flower the noble Plant of Renown, who is the brightness of the Father’s glory, the express image of His person; Him from whom death shall not be able to separate me, for He shall be with me when I go through the dark valley, so that I shall fear no evil”. To these deeply exercised Christians, and others whose names are not found in books of this world, but are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, the persecuted preachers broke the bread of life, and it was eagerly received.
But the storm that drove Mackillican and others from their parishes was not over, for we find in 1675 that letters of intercommuning2 were issued against them. Not long afterwards, he dispensed the Lord’s Supper at Obsdale, in Easter Ross. The text of his action sermon was: “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved” (Song 5:1). This communion seems to have been an occasion of great spiritual blessing. Wodrow says: “At the last sermon there was a plentiful effusion of the Spirit upon a great many present, and the oldest Christians there declared they had never been witnesses to the like”.3 He further adds: “The people seemed to be in a transport, their souls filled with heaven, and breathing thither, while their bodies were upon the earth”.4 The place where the communion was dispensed is marked by a granite stone.
Though Mackillican did not fall into the soldiers’ hands at Obsdale, he was soon afterwards apprehended in the house of Hugh Anderson, Cromarty, who had been one of his assistants at Obsdale. He was cast into the tolbooth of Fortrose.
In his speech of defence before the Provost of Fortrose, he says: “My Lord, I look upon it as a special piece of the providence of Him whose eyes look to and fro through the earth, proving Himself mighty in behalf of them who fear Him, that He hath ordered my lot to fall in your hands, [who is] endued with so much discerning, and who is no stranger in our Israel, but, on the contrary, well acquainted with the controversies of the times, and the cause for which I am apprehended. I bless the Most High, whose I am, and whom I desire to serve in the gospel of His Son, so far as I can search into myself, I find no evil in my heart nor iniquity in my hand against his Majesty’s person or authority, whose I am and to whom I submit in the Lord.
“In testimony whereof, I have given, insofar as could consist with my duty to the Lord and the light and peace of my own conscience, a submission unto and observance of his laws; but for abjured prelacy, and perjured prelates . . . being a seed which the Evil One hath sown while the servants were asleep, and hath produced so much of sin and suffering in this land, I look on myself as obliged before the Lord to refuse, oppose and bear testimony against . . . For this testimony I am willing to go to prison and be judged at Caesar’s tribunal.”5
Mackillican was ordered by the Privy Council to be passed from sheriff to sheriff till he should land in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh. However, Sir Hugh Campbell of Cawdor, at that time Sheriff of Nairnshire, instead of handing him over to the Sheriff of Morayshire, kept him as his chaplain. According to the complaint of the Privy Council, he “permitted him to keep conventicles and commit several other disorders, to the disturbance of the peace of the country”. By order of the Privy Council Mackillican was to be brought to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh. From there he was sent to the Bass Rock to join his friends, Thomas Hog and James Fraser of Brea. This, his first imprisonment in the Bass, lasted for the greater part of three years.
After the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679, Mackillican was freed from the Bass, on finding security to appear before the Council when called, under a penalty of 10 000 merks in Scots money. Sir Hugh Campbell became his surety. Mackillican immediately resumed preaching, and he does not appear to have been molested again until 1682, when the Privy Council was informed that he had “relapsed into his former guilt in keeping conventicles, disorderly baptisms and marriages, to the endangering of the peace of the country where he lives”. He was cited to appear before the Council on 18 January 1683, when he was fined 5000 merks, and sentenced to be imprisoned until he would pay, and find security of another 5000 merks that he would not preach at conventicles.
He remained in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh for about six months, and then was sent for a second time to the Bass Rock. During this period he was subjected to the very severe restrictions imposed by the Privy Council, to which the deputy-governor, without authority from the Council, added others. But Mackillican, like others, found that the Lord could grant His presence as easily in a prison as anywhere else. The following extracts from his diary throw light on his spiritual experience during this time of imprisonment:
Bass, 15 October 1683.
This has been a day of gladness of heart to me. The Lord was pleased to let out abundantly of His Holy Spirit, convincing of sin, confirming me in the assurance of pardon, comforting me in the hopes of mercy and deliverance to myself and family, and to His oppressed people and interests.
Bass, 19 October 1683.
The felt joy and sense of the former day continued since with me; my soul dwelt at ease without any burden or weight. This day was a brother and friend to the former, wherein the Lord did communicate Himself by enlarging my heart, melting my spirit, and breaking upon me with a full gale. My graces were in exercise; faith, hope, and meekness of spirit acted their part. My heart with cheerfulness said unto the Lord, “Thou art my holy one, my only one, my fair and pleasant one; Thy overcoming love hath mastered me”. My hope and expectation of deliverance for myself and others was confirmed. “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” This top of the rock was to me a Peniel, where the Lord’s face in some measure was seen.
Bass, November 1683.
This was a day of sweet outpouring of the Spirit; I hope good will follow. Many sweet and apposite places of Scripture, both in reading and praying, was I trysted with6 concerning myself, children, the people and work of God, and enemies. The daughter of Babylon will come down and sit in the dust; there will be no throne for her; her nakedness will be uncovered; vengeance will overtake her; He will not meet her as a man. She trusts in her wickedness; desolation will suddenly come upon her; but the Lord will place salvation in Zion for Israel, His glory.
Bass, 23 September 1684.
This day I got my heart poured out before the Lord for the distress, destruction and desolation of the land, and for the ruin and overthrow of His interest. The Lord will have mercy and heal, recover His own glory, reform His Church, restore His ordinances, purge His servants, and cause sacrifice to be offered in righteousness to Himself. The Lord will send the rod of His strength out of Zion, He will rule in the midst of His enemies. He hath drank of the brook by the way, and therefore hath He lifted up His head, and is exalted far above all principalities and powers. He will strike with His right hand, and with it bring back the ark and the glory, and cause the days of joy and gladness to be according to the days of sorrow and sadness we have seen.7
While in the Bass, the fine of 5000 merks was to be charged against his small property in Alness. As this meant beggary for his eight children, his wife was obliged to travel south in the month of November and petition the Privy Council to remit the fine. Through the good offices of Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat, the petition was granted. Through his influence also, Mackillican was permitted to return home to Alness, under bond to appear when required. When toleration had been given to the Presbyterians in July 1687, he built a meeting house on his own property with the money he received for the damage done to his property by a party of soldiers sent to prevent the celebration of the communion at Obsdale in 1675. As he was greatly impoverished by his long imprisonment and fines and the confiscation of his property, the people who attended his ministry gave him, according to Wodrow, “a competent maintenance”. He declined a call to Elgin but, after the Revolution, he accepted a call to Inverness. He preached there for a Sabbaths, but he died before his formal induction to the charge.
With his health broken and shattered by his severe privations, he passed from the stormy scenes of time to the peaceful serenity of heaven on 8 June 1689. Broken in health, but not in spirit, through their trying experiences, such men maintained their integrity in the face of an opposition before which weaker men yielded. To Hog, Mackillican, and others of that noble band who were associated with them in their strenuous struggle, Scotland owes a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid and ought never to be forgotten.
1Abridged from Some Noted Ministers of the Northern Highlands, which has been republished by Free Presbyterian Publications in paperback (296 pp, £3.50). Other worthies whose lives are recounted include, Lachlan Mackenzie, Hector Macphail, John Kennedy (father and son), Alexander Stewart, Archibald Cook and Charles Calder Macintosh.
2They were issued in the King’s name forbidding people to supply food, drink, shelter, or anything else that might be useful to those thus denounced, or even to speak to them.
3Mackillican preached from the text: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee” (1 Chr 29:18).
4Robert Wodrow, History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, Glasgow, 1829 reprint, vol 2, p 285.
5Wodrow, History, vol 2, p 334.
6That is, the Lord met him.
7Wodrow, History, vol 3, p 436.