About 40 miles south of Glasgow, Scotland, sits the small market town of Cumnock. In the early part of the reign of Queen Victoria, a quaint Cumnock cottage unveiled her century-and-a-half secret. A sword and a male wig accompanied a sheepskin-and-human-hair mask. This terrifying, yet professionally made mask included a beard, eyebrows, wooden lower teeth, and ruddy cheeks. What were these secret treasures?

John Howie’s book Scot’s Worthies records, “He was frequently in disguise, and used various means to conceal himself from his enemies, traveling in secret, and at times using methods of concealment that none but himself would have known how to employ.” The “he” is Alexander Peden, the one to whom the mask belonged. Sometimes called “Prophet” and known as “Sandy” to his friends, Peden was known to wear this mask to avoid capture for his illegal preaching and ministry to those whom he served.

Alexander “Sandy” Peden was born near Sorn, Ayrshire, in 1626 to faithful believing parents. As a young man he attended the University of Glasgow where he trained for the Presbyterian ministry. He was ordained in 1653 and served the congregation in New Luce, Wigtownshire, which had been established five years prior. Peden served New Luce until around 1660 or 1662 when Charles II reestablished the Episcopal order in the Scottish churches. Charles required the use of the Book of Common Prayer in Scottish churches, considered an act of hostility against the Scots. Three hundred ministers across the UK lost their charges through these actions.

Peden’s last day in New Luce found him knocking on the pulpit three times before leaving his congregation, saying, “I am clear of the blood of this congregation, for I have warned them faithfully.” He also pronounced a curse upon the pulpit saying, “I arrest thee, in my Master’s name, that none ever enter thee but such as come in by the door, as I have done.”

Peden, along with other Covenanter ministers, took to the fields to preach and minster to God’s people. For the next nine years, Peden would preach illegally. Eventually, he would be captured for his illegal Covenanter ministry and taken to the prison of Bass Rock. While on Bass Rock, Peden wrote to a friend, “We are close shut up in our chambers, not permitted to converse, diet or worship together, but conducted out by two at once in the day, to breathe in the open air, envying the birds their freedom, provoking and calling on us to bless Him for the most common mercies—and again close shut up day and night, to hear only the sighs and groans of our fellow prisoners.” It was a horrible place.

While on Bass Rock, the story goes, Peden was mocked by a teenage girl who witnessed him worshiping through prayer and the singing of psalms. Some say she was a prison guard’s daughter. She laughed out loud at his imprisoned praise, and Peden exclaimed her laughter would be stopped by God! Later on, a gust of wind would take her from the rock cliff’s edge, never to be seen again. A “skirl” came upon the one who accompanied her as she fell to her death—a skirl is the shrill, wailing sound the bagpipe makes.

About a year after being on Bass Rock, Peden would escape the prison, unnoticed by guards and, according to some accounts, helped by a storm sent from above. Through much of the 1670s and 1680s, Peden would preach underground—wearing masks and escaping from British soldiers called dragoons. He also spent another four years imprisoned on Bass Rock and a short time in Ireland, rallying Covenanters to the principles of the Solemn League and Covenant. He spent a short time on a slave ship destined for the Americas; all prisoners being sent away for “the principles of the Presbyterians.” Through providential smiles, that ship would not carry him to the Americas and instead was liberated. He farmed in Ireland—and was caught by the farmer’s son “groaning” in prayer all night for the Covenanter cause. It was later revealed he was the famous Scottish preacher.

Peden would live until 1686 when he would die near his brother’s house in Sorn. For some time, he had lived and served from a cave on his brother’s land. That cave can be visited today.

The day before Peden’s death he preached a fiery sermon, which would be his last: “My master is the rider, and I am the horse; I never love to ride but when I find the spurs.…” Peden encouraged his Covenanter hearers who were under the hand of God. Peden would go on to preach a prophetic sermon in five parts, unfolding the cause of the Second Reformation and the elevation of Covenanter principles.

On January 28, 1686, Peden died. Weeks later, when the word of his death reached his enemies, his body was exhumed and reburied at the foot of Cumnock gallows. Later his friends would erect a stone:

Here lies
Mr. Alexander Peden
A faithful minister of the Gospel: Glenluce
Who departed this life January 28, 1686.
And was raised, after 6 weeks, out of his grave
And buried here out of contempt.

Through the ministry of Peden, the Covenanter cause and principles of the Second Reformation were advanced in a passionate, charismatic, and Christ-exalting way. Running from enemies, hiding in the crags, and preaching passionately were all part of the deliverance of Peden. The Lord is faithful.