Alexander Peden
Encyclopedia
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
movement, was born at Auchincloich Farm near Sorn
Sorn
Sorn is a small village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is situated on the River Ayr. It has a population of roughly 350. Local services include: a pub, a church, a general store, a motorbike shop and a television shop. There is also a village hall and a bowling green and primary school...
, Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
, about 1626, and was educated at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
. He was a teacher at Tarbolton
Tarbolton
Tarbolton is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland.- Meaning of place-name :Tarbolton has been suggested as having one of three meanings:...
and then ordained minister of New Luce
New Luce
New Luce is a quiet picturesque village in the Scottish unitary council area of Dumfries and Galloway. It has a shop, pub and two bridges. In the summer it has a popular gala day. The coast to coast walk, the Southern Upland Way, passes close to the village. New Luce is surrounded by good walking...
in Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
in 1660.
After the restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, Peden had to leave his parish under Middletons Ejectment Act in 1663. For ten years he wandered far and wide, bringing comfort and succour to his co-religionists, and often very narrowly escaping capture, spending some of his time in Ireland. To hide his identity, Peden took to wearing a cloth mask and wig, which are now on display in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
's Museum of Scotland.
In June 1673 while holding a conventicle at Knockdow near Ballantrae
Ballantrae
Ballantrae is a community in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The name probably comes from the Scottish Gaelic Baile na Tràgha, meaning the "town by the beach"....
, Ayrshire, he was captured by Major William Cockburn, and condemned by the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
to four years and three months imprisonment on the Bass Rock
Bass Rock
The Bass Rock, or simply The Bass, , is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It is approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick. It is a steep-sided volcanic rock, at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets...
and a further fifteen months in the Edinburgh Tolbooth
Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh
The Old Tolbooth was a medieval building located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland.Demolished in 1817, the Tolbooth served various purposes during its existence. It housed early meetings of the Estates of Scotland, Court of Session, and also of the Provost and Burgesses of the Burgh Council...
.
In December 1678 he, along with 60 others, was sentenced to banishment to the American plantations. They were transported by ship to London, where they were supposed to be transferred to an American ship, however the American captain on hearing the reason for their banishment released them. Peden made his way north again to divide the remaining years of his life between his own country and the north of Ireland. His last days were spent in a cave on the River Lugar in the parish of Sorn, near his birthplace and his brother's farm in Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
, and there he died in 1686, worn out by hardship and privation.
He was buried in Auchinleck churchyard. Six weeks later his body was exhumed by troops from Sorn Castle, who planned to hang his corpse from the gallows in Cumnock
Cumnock
Cumnock is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water...
. However William Crichton, 2nd Earl of Dumfries
William Crichton, 2nd Earl of Dumfries
William Crichton was the 2nd Earl of Dumfries.He objected to the posthumous execution of Alexander Peden....
objected to the hanging, so the troops buried the corpse at the foot of the gallows. In 1891 a monument was erected to mark the spot.
Prophet Peden receives a good deal of attention in Jack Deere's book "Surprised by the Voice of God" which records prophetic and other charismatic gifts practiced by historical reformed figures. In 1682, Peden performed the wedding ceremony of John Brown
John Brown (Covenanter)
John Brown , also known as the Christian Carrier, was a Protestant Covenanter from Priesthill, a few miles from Muirkirk in Ayrshire, Scotland. He became a Presbyterian martyr in 1685....
and Isabel Weir. He told Isabel after the ceremony, “You have a good man to be your husband, but you will not enjoy him long; prize his company, and keep linen by you to be his winding sheet, for you will need it when ye are not looking for it, and it will be a bloody one".
On the night of 30 April 1685, troops commanded by Captain John Graham of Claverhouse shot John Brown for Brown's refusal to take the 1684 Oath of Abjuration or to swear not to rise in arms against the king. This Oath required the person taking it to "abhor, renounce and disown in the presence of Almighty God, the pretended Declaration of War [Renwick's "Vindication"] lately affixed at several parish churches, in so far as it declares war against his sacred Majesty, and asserts that it is lawful to kill such as serve his Majesty in Church, State, Army or Country, or such as act against the authors of the pretended Declaration now shown to me." This oath did not require one to proclaim the king, rather than Christ, as the head of the church. However, its inclusion of a reference to his Magesty's servants in the Church was obviously Erastian. It would have been understood by a Covenanter to be a promise not to resist the King's claimed supremacy in all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, as claimed in the 1682 Abjuration Act. Further, weapons and writings considered treasonous by the authorities were found in Brown's house.
The story that Claverhouse subsequently taunted Brown's wife about his death appeared some years after his death, written by men who were not present at the time. Peden was 11 miles away. He prayed with the family of John Muirhead in his home, "Lord, when wilt Thou avenge Brown's blood? O, let Brown's blood be precious in Thy sight." Peden told them of his vision of Brown's wife weeping over his corpse and of Claverhouse killing John Brown. Isabel Brown buried her husband in the sheet she has saved. Peden was well-known for God's spectacular answers to his prayers.
Alexander Peden Stone
The Alexander Peden Stone was where Rev. Alexander Peden and others were said to have preached from to the Covenanters. The monument was erected around 1866 and is maintained by a local Covenanters committee. The stone on which the monument is mounted would have been used as the plinth by preachers.