The Life and Prophecies of Mr. Alex. Peden (4)

by Anonymous

THE

LIFE AND PROPHECIES

OF

MR. ALEX. PEDEN,

ONE OF THE

SCOTS WORTHIES.

 

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GLASGOW:
WILLIAM INGLIS,
5, Melville Place.
1838.

THE

LIFE AND PROPHECIES

OF

Mr. ALEX. PEDEN.

Mr. Alexander Peden, was born in the parish of Sorn, in the sheriffdom of Ayr. After his course at the College, he was employed for some time to be school-master, precentor, and session-clerk to Mr. John Guthrie, minister of the gospel at Tarbolton. When he was about to enter on the ministry, a young woman fell with child, in adultery, to a servant in the house where she stayed; when she found herself to be so, she told the father thereof, who said, I'll run for it, and go to Ireland, father it upon Mr. Peden, he has more to help you to bring it up (he having a small heritage) than I have. The same day that he was to get his licence, she came in before the Presbytery and said, I hear you are to licence Mr. Peden, to be a minister; but do it not, for I am with child to him. He being without at the time, was called in by the moderator; and being questioned about it, he said, I am utterly surprised, I cannot speak but let none entertain an ill thought of me, for I am utterly free of it, and God will vindicate me in his own time and way. He went home and walked at a water-side upwards of 24 hours, and would neither eat nor drink, but said, I have got what I was seeking, and I will be vindicated, and that poor unhappy lass will pay dear for it in her life, and will make a dismal end; and for this surfeit of grief that she hath given me, there shall never one of her sex come into my bosom; and, accordingly he never married. There are various reports of the way that he was vindicated; some say, the time she was in child-birth, Mr. Guthrie, charged her to give account who was the father of that child, and discharged the woman to be helpful to her, until she did it, some say, that she confessed; others, that she remained obstinate. Some of the people when I made inquiry about it in that countryside affirmed, that the Presbytery had been at all pains about it, and could get no satisfaction they appointed Mr. Guthrie to give a full relation of the whole before the congregation which he did; and the same day the father of the child being present, when he heard Mr. Guthrie begin to speak, he stood up and desired him to halt, and said, I am the father of that child, and I desired her to father it on Mr. Peden, which has been a great trouble of conscience to me; and I could not get rest till I came to declare it. However it is certain, that after she was married, every thing went cross to them; and they went from place to place, and were reduced to great poverty. At last she came to that same spot of ground where he stayed upwards of 24 hours, and made away with herself!

After this he was three years settled minister at New Glenluce in Galloway; and when he was obliged, by the violence and tyranny of that time, to leave that parish, he lectured upon Acts xx. 17. to the end, and preached upon the 31st verse in the forenoon, "Therefore watch, and remember that for the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one, night and day, with tears:" Asserting that he had declared the whole council of God, and had kept nothing back; and protested that he was free of the blood of all souls. And, in the afternoon he preached on the 32nd verse, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified." Which was a weeping day in that kirk; the greatest part could not contain themselves: He many times requested them to be silent; but they sorrowed most of all when he told them that they should never see his face in that pulpit again. He continued until night; and when he closed the pulpit-door, he knocked hard upon it three times with his Bible, saying three times over, I arrest in my master's name, that never one enter there, but such as come in by door, as I did. Accordingly, neither curate nor indulged minister ever entered that pulpit, until after the revolution, that a Presbyterian minister opened it.

While prisoner in the Bass, one sabbath-morning being about the public worship of God, a young lass, about 13 or 14 years of age, came to the chamber-door mocking with loud laughter: He said, "Poor thing, you mock and laugh at the worship of God, but ere long God shall write such a sudden, surprising judgement on thee, that shall stay thy laughing, and thou shalt not escape it." Very shortly after, she was walking upon the rock, and there came a blast of wind and sweeped her into the sea, where she perished. Another day walking upon the rock, some soldiers passing by him, one of them said, "Devil take me." He said, "Fy, fy, poor man, thou knowest not what thou art saying; but thou wilt repent that." At which word the soldier stood astonished, and went to the guard distracted, crying aloud for Mr. Peden, saying, the devil would immediately take him away. He came to him again, and found him in his right mind, under deep convictions of great guilt. The guard being to change, they desired him to go to his arms: he refused, and said he would lift no arms against Jesus Christ, his cause, nor persecute his people, he had done that too long. The governor threatened him with death, tomorrow about ten of of the clock; he confidently said, three times, though he should tear all his body in pieces, he should never lift arms that way. About three days after, the governor put him out of the garrison, setting him ashore. He having a wife and children, took a house in East Lothian, where he became a singular Christian. Mr. Peden told these astonishing passages to the foresaid John Cubison, and others, who informed me.

When brought from the Bass to Edinburgh, and sentence of banishment passed upon him, in Dec. 1678, and sixty more fellow prisoners, for the same cause, to go to America, never to be seen in Scotland again, under the pain of death. After this sentence was past, he several times said that the ship was not yet built that should take him and these prisoners to Virginia, or any other of the English plantations in America. One James Kay, a solid and grave Christian, bebeing one of them who lives in or about the Water of Leith, told me that Mr. Peden said to him, "James, when your wife comes in let me see her;" which he did. After some discourse he called for a drink, and when he sought a blessing, he said, "Good Lord, let not James Kay's wife miss her husband, till thou return him to her in peace and safety; which we are sure will be sooner than either he or she is looking for." Accordingly, the same day-month that he parted with her at Leith, he came home to her at the Water of Leith.

When the were on ship board at the Water of Leith, there was a report that the enemies were to send down thumbkins to keep them from rebelling; at the report of this they were discouraged. Mr. Peden came upon deck, and said, "Why are ye discouraged? You need not fear, there will neither thumbkins nor bootkins come here: lift up your hearts and heads, for the day of your redemption draweth near: if we were once at London we will be set at liberty." And when sailing on the voyage, praying publicly, he said, "Lord, such is the enemies hatred at thee, and malice at us for thy sake, that they will not let us stay in the land of Scotland, to serve thee, though some of us have nothing but the covering of thy heavens above us, and the earth to tread upon; but, Lord, we bless thy name, that will cut short our voyage, and frustrate thy enemies of their wicked design, that they will not get us where they intend; and some of us shall go richer home, than we came from home." James Pride, who lived in Fife, an honest man, being one of them, he said many times, he could assert the truth of this, for he came safely home; and, besides other things, he bought two cows; and before that he never had one. I had these accounts both from the foresaid James Kay and Robert Punton, a known public man, worthy of all credit, who was also under the same sentence and lived in the parish of Dalmeny, near Queensferry.

When they arrived at London, the skipper who received them at Leith was to carry them no farther. The skipper who was to receive them there, and carry them to Virginia, came to see them, they being represented to him, as thieves, robbers, and evil-doers; but when he found they were all grave Christian men, banished for Presbyterian principles, he said he would sail the sea with none such. In this confusion, that the one skipper would not receive them, and the other would keep them no longer, being expensive to maintain them, they were all set at liberty. Some reported that both skippers got compliments from friends at London; however, it is certain they were all set free, without any imposition of bonds or oaths; and friends at London, and on their way homewards through England, shewed much kindness unto them.

That dismal day, June 22d, 1679, at Bothwell-bridge, that the Lord's people fell, and fled before the enemy, he was forty miles distant near the border, and kept himself retired until the middle of the day, that some friends said to him, "Sir, the people are waiting for sermon." He said, "Let the people go to their prayers; for me I neither can nor will preach any this day; for our friends are fallen, and fled before the enemy at Hamilton; and they are hanging and hashing them down, and their blood is running like water!"

After the public murdering of these two worthy women-martyrs, Isobel Allison and Marion Harvie, in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, January, 1681, he was in Galloway. A professor of some note, who had more carnal wit and policy than to suffer him to be honest and faithful, after reasoning upon the grounds of their sufferings, affirmed that they would never be reckoned among the number of the martyrs. Mr. Peden said, after musing a little, "Let alone, you will never be honoured with such a death: and for what you have said against these two worthy lasses, your death will be both sudden and surprising." Which happened shortly thereafter: while standing at the fire, smoking his pipe, the man dropt down dead.

In the year 1680, after the murdering of Mr. Cameron, and these worthies with him at Airdsmoss, he was near Mauchline, in Ayrshire; one Robert Brown, of Crosshouse, who lived near Newmills, and one Hugh Pinaneve, factor to the Earl of Lothian, stabled their horses at the house where he was, and went to a fair in Mauchline; and in the afternoon, when they came to take away their horses, they got a drink, and in the time of it, the said Hugh, a wicked wretch, both in principle and practice, broke out in railing against the sufferers, particularly against Mr. Cameron. Mr. Peden being in another room, overhearing all, was so grieved that he came to the chamber door, and said to the said Hugh, "Sir, hold your peace, ere twelve o'clock thou shalt know what-for a man Mr.Cameron was. God shall punish that blasphemous mouth and cursed tongue of your's in such a manner as shall be astonishing to all that shall see you, and shall set you up a beacon to all railing Rabshakehs." Robert Brown knowing Mr. Peden, hasted to his horse, being persuaded that Mr. Peden's words would not fall to the ground, and fearing that some mischief might befall him for being in the said Hugh's company, he rode hard home. Robert went to his own house, and Hugh to the Earl's house, and casting off his boots, he was struck with such a sickness and pain through his body, with his mouth so wide, and his tongue hanging so far out, in a fearful manner, that they sent for the said Robert; who being used to take blood, he got some blood off him, but all in vain, he died that night. The said Robert, an old man, told me this passage when in prison together.

In the year 1682, while marrying two pair of folks, he said to the one, "Stand by, I will not marry you this day." The bridegroom was anxious to know the reason: after enquiring privately, he said, "You will thank me for this afterwards, and think yourself well quat of her, for she is with child to another wife's husband: which was a matter of fact, as time afterwards discovered.

Shortly after that sad stroke at Bothwell, he went to Ireland, but did not stay long at that time. In his travels through Galloway he came to a house, and looking in the good-man's face, he said, "They call you an honest man, but if you be so you do not look like it, you will not long keep that name, but will discover yourself to be what you are." And shortly after he was made to flee for sheep stealing. In that short time he was in Ireland, the Governor required of all Presbyterian ministers that were in Ireland, that they should give it under their hand, that they had no accession to the late rebellion at Bothwell-bridge, in Scotland, and that they did not approve of it; which the most part did; and sent Mr. Thomas Gowans, a Scotsman, and one Mr. Paton, from the north of Ireland to Dublin, to present it to the Lord-Lieutenant: the which when Mr. Peden heard, he said, "Mr. Gowans and his brother Mr. Paton are sent and gone the devil's errand, but God will arrest them by the gate." And, accordingly, Mr. Gowans, by the way, was struck with a sore sickness, and Mr. Paton fell from his horse and broke or crushed his leg; and both of them were detained beyond expectation. I had this account from some worthy Christians when I was in Ireland.

In the year 1682, he married John Brown in Kyle, at his own house in Priesthall, that singular Christian, upon Marion Weir. After marriage he said to the bride, "Marion, you have got a good man to be your husband, but you will not enjoy him long: prize his company, and keep linen by you for his winding-sheet, for you will need it when you are not looking for it, and it will be a bloody one." This came sadly to pass in the beginning of May, 1685, as afterwards shall appear.

After this, in the year 1682, he went to Ireland again, and came to the house of William Steel, in Glenwharry, in the county of Antrim; he enquired at Mrs. Steel if she wanted a servant for threshing victual? She said they did, and enquired what his wages were a-day, or week. He said the common rate was a common rule; to which she assented. At night he was put to bed in the barn, with the servant-lad; and that night he spent in prayer and groaning, up and down the barn. On the morrow he threshed victual with the lad, and the next night he spent the same way. The second day, in the morning, the lad said to his mistress, "This man sleeps none, but groans and prays all night: I get no sleep for him. He threshes very well, and is not sparing of himself, though I think he has not been used with it, for he can do nothing to the bottling and ordering of the barn; and when I put the barn in order he goes to such a place, and there he prays for the afflicted Church of Scotland, and names so many in the furnace. He wrought the second day, and his mistress watched and overheard him praying, as the lad had said. At night she desired her husband to enquire if he was a minister, which he did, and desired him to be free with him, and he should not only be no enemy to him but a friend. Mr. Peden said he was not ashamed of his office; and gave an account of his circumstances. He was no more set to work, nor to lie with the lad; and he staid a considerable time in that place, and was a blessed instrument in the conversion of some, and civilizing of others, though that place was noted for a wild rude people, and the fruit of his labour appears unto this day. There was a servant-lass in that house, that he could not look upon but with frowns; and sometimes when at family-worship, he said, pointing to her with a frowning countenance, "You come from the barn and from the byre reeking in your lasts, and sit down among us; we do not want you, nor none such." At last he said to William Steel and his wife, "Put that unhappy lass from your house, for she will be a stain to your family, for she is with child, and will murder it, and will be punished for the same." Which accordingly came to pass, and she was burnt at Craig-Fergus, which is the punishment of murderers of children there. I had this account from John Muirhead, who staid much in that house, and other Christian people, when in Ireland.

On the second of February, 1685, he was in the house of one Mr. Vernon, at night, and John Kilpatrick, Mrs. Vernon's father, a very old worthy Christian; he said to him, "John, the world may well want you and me." John said, "Sir, I have been very fruitless and useless all my days, and the world may well want me, but death will be a great loss." "Well, John," said he, "you and I shall be both in heaven shortly, but though you be much older than I, my soul will get the fore-start of your's, for I will be first in heaven: but your body will get the advantage of mine, for ye will get rest in your grave until the resurrection; but for me, I must go to the bloody land (this was his ordinary way of speaking, bloody or sinful land, when he spoke of Scotland) and die there; and the enemies out of their wickedness, will lift my corpse unto another place; but I am very indifferent, John, for I know my body shall lie among the dust of the martyrs; and though they should take my old bones and make whistles of them, they will all be gathered together in the morning of the ressurection; and then, John, you and I, and all that will be found having on Christ's righteousness, will get day-about with them, and give our hearty assent to their eternal damnation." The same night, after this discourse, while about family worship, about ten or eleven o'clock, explaining the portion of Scripture he read, he suddenly hearkened, and said, "What's this I hear?" And hearkened again a little, and clapped his hands and said, "I hear a dead shot at the throne of Britain! Let him go yonder, he has been a black sight to these lands, especially to poor Scotland: we are all quit of him; there has been many a wasted prayer wared on him." And it was concluded by all, the same night that unhappy man Charles II. died. I had this account from John Muirhead, and others who were present and confirmed in the truth of it, by some worthy Christians, when I was in Ireland.

There were three lads murdered at Wigton, and at the same time he was praying at Craigmyne, many miles distant; he cried out, "There is a bloody sacrifice put up this day at Wigton." These were the lads of Kirkeily; and those who lived near knew not of it till it was past. I had this account from William M'Dougal, an old man in Ferrytown, near Wigton, worthy of credit, who was present.

After this, in Auchengrooch-muirs, in Nithsdale, Captain John Mathison and others being with him, they were alarmed that the enemies were coming fast upon them; they desined to put him in some hole, and cover him with heather, he not being able to run hard by reason of his age; he desired them to forbear a little until he prayed, then he said, "Lord, we are ever needing at thy hand; and if we had not thy command to call on thee in the day of trouble, and thy promise of answering us in the day of our distress, we wot not what would become of us: If thou hast any more work for us in the world, allow us the lap of thy cloak this day again; and if this be the day of our going off the stage, let us win honestly off, and comfortably through, and our souls will sing forth thy praises through eternity, for what thou hast done to us and for us." When ended, he ran alone a little, and came quickly back, saying, "Lads, the bitterness of this blast is over; we will be no more troubled with them to-day." Foot and horse came the length of Andrew Clark's, in Achengrooch, where they were covered with a dark mist! When they saw it they roared like fleshly devils, and cried out, "There is the confounded mist again! we cannot get these damned whigs pursued for it." I had this account from the said Captain John Mathison.

About this time he was in a house in the shire of Ayr, (James Nisbet, yet living in the Castle of Edinburgh, can bear witness to the truth of this), and one night he was standing before the fire, where he uttered some imprecations upon the cursed intelligencers, who had told the enemy that he was come out of Ireland. When James took him to the place where he was to rest a little, James said, "The servants took notice of your imprecations upon the intelligencers." He said, "Ye will know tomorrow, about nine o'clock, what ground I have for it. I wish thy head may be preserved, for it will be in danger for me; I will take any own time and be gone from this house." Some time that night he went to a desert place, and darned himself in a moss-hag; the next morning James was going with the harrows, and about eight of the clock there was a troop of the enemies surrounding the house; when James saw then he ran for it, and they pursued him hard, till he wan to a moss, where they could pursue him no further with horses; they then fired upon him, and he having knots upon his hair, on each side of his head, one of their bullets took away one of the knots. He ran where Mr. Peden was, who said, "Oh! Jamie, Jamie, I am glad your head is safe, for I knew it would be in danger." He took his knife and cut away the other knot.

About this time he and James Wilson, in Douglas, a singularly known man to many, was at Airdsmoss; and being together some time without speaking, as Mr. Peden's ordinary was, when there was any extraordinary thing in his head, they came to Mr. Cameron's grave, where he and the other eight were buried. After sitting some tîme on the grave, he gave James a clap on the shoulder with his heavy hand, and said, "I am going to tell you a strange tale!" James said, "I am willing to hear it." He said, "This is a strange day, both of sinning and suffering! (as indeed it was, it being killing-time, wherein many fainted, and could not endure the scorching heat of the persecution; but to some the Lord, in his love, gave gourds of strength, support and comfort, that keeped them from fainting:) "But," said he, "though it be a dreadful day, it will not last long: this persecution will be stopt within these few years, but I will not see it; and ye are all longing and praying for that day, but when it comes ye will not crack so much of it as ye trow. And ye are a vain man James, and many others, with your bits of paper and drops of blood; but when that day comes, there will be a bike of indulged, lukewarm ministers from Holland, England, and Ireland, together with a bike of them at home, and some young things that know nothing; and they will all hyve together in a General Assembly and the red hands with blood, and the black hands of defection, will be taken by the hand, and the hand given them by our ministers; and ye will not ken who has been the persecutor, complier, or sufferer; and your bits of paper and drops of blood will be shut to the door, and never a word more of them; and ye and the like of you will get their backside." He give him another sore clap upon the shoulder, saying, "Keep mind of this, James Wilson, for, as the Lord lives, it will surely come to pass." James Wilson told me this shortly thereafter, and repeated it again the next General Assembly, when he and I, and many others, saw the accomplishment of this, in every particular, to our great grief.

In the begining of May, 1685, he came to the house of John Brown and Marion Weir whom he married before he went to Ireland, where he stayed all night; and, in the morning, when he took farewell, he came out at the door, saying to himself, "Poor woman, a fearful morning!" twice over: "A dark misty morning!" The next morning, between five and six, the said John Brown having gone about the worship of God in his family, was going with a spade in his hand, to make ready some peat ground; the mist being very dark, he knew not until cruel and bloody Claverhouse compassed him with three troops of horse, and brought him to his house, and there examined him; who, though he was a man of stammering speech, yet answered him distinctly and soundly; which made Claverhouse to ask those whom he had taken to be his guides through the muirs, if ever they heard him preach? They answered, "No, no, he was never a preacher." He said, "If he has never preached, meikle he has prayed in his time." He said to John, "Go to your prayers, for you shall immediately die." When he was praying, Claverhouse interrupted him three times: One time that he stopt him, he was pleading that the Lord would spare a remnant, and not make a full end in the day of his anger; Claverhouse said, "I gave you time to pray, and ye are begun to preach." He turned upon his knees, and said, "Sir, you know neither the nature of praying nor preaching, that calls this preaching; then concontinued without confusion. When ended, Claverhouse said, "Take good-night of your wife and children." His wife standing by, with her child in her arms, that she had brought forth to him, and another child of his first wife's he came to her and said, "Now, Marion, the day is come that I told you would come, when I spake first to you of marrying me." She said, "Indeed, John, I can willingly part with you." Then he said, "That is all I desire, I have no more to do but die." He kissed his wife and bairns, and wished purchased and promised blessings to be multiplied upon them, and his blessing. Claverhouse ordered six soldiers to shoot, and the most part of the bullets came upon his head, which scattered his brains upon the ground. Claverhouse said to his wife, "What thinkest thou of thy husband now, woman?" She said, "I thought ever much of him, and now as muhh as ever." He said, "It were mere justice to lay thee beside him." She said, "If ye were permitted, I doubt not your cruelty would go that length: But how will you answer for this morning's work?" He said, "To man I can be answerable, and for God, I will take him in my own hand!" Claverhouse mounted his horse and marched, and left her with the dead corpse of her husband lying there. She set the bairn on the ground, and gathered up his brains, and tied up his head, and straighted his body, and covered him with her plaid, and sat down and wept over him. His corpse was buried at the end of his house where he was slain, with this inscription on his grave:—

"On earth's cold bed the dusty part here lies,
Of one who did the earth as dust despise:
Here, in this place, from earth took his departure;
Now he has got the garland of a martyr."

Mr Peden, before his death, said, "Ye shall be where I shall be buried at last, but I discharge you all to lift my corpse again. At last, one morning early he came to the door, and left his cave; his brother's wife said "Where are you going, the enemy will be there?" He said, "I know that." Alas, Sir," says she, "what will become of you? you must go back to the cave again." He said, "I have done with that, for it is discovered: But there is no matter, for within forty-eight hours, I will be beyond the reach of all the devil's temptations, and his instruments, in hell or on the earth; and they shall trouble me no more." About three hours after he entered the house, the enemy came and found him not in the cave; then they searched the barn narrowly, casting the unthreshen corn; and searched the house, stabbing the beds, but entered not into the place where he lay.

Within forty-eight hours he died, January 28th, 1686, being past sixty years and was buried in the Laird of Afflect's Isle. The enemies got notice of his death and burial, and sent a troop of dragoons, who lifted his corpse and carried him to Cumnock gallows-foot, and buried him there (after being forty days in the grave) beside others. His friends thereafter laid a grave-stone above him, with this inscription;

HERE LIES
Mr. ALEXANDER PEDEN,
A Faithful Minister of the Gospel,
at Glenluce,
Who departed this life January 28, 1686,
And was raised after six weeks
Out of his Grave,
And buried here out of contempt.

After this that troop of dragoons came to quarter in the parish of Cambusnethen: Two of them were quartered in the house of James Gray, my acquaintance; they being frighted in their sleep, started up, and clapped their hands, crying, "Peden, Peden!" These two dragoons affirmed, that out of their curiosity they opened his coffin, to see his corpse, and yet he had no smell, though he had been forty days dead.

FINIS.