Who was that Masked Prophet? I.

I threatened this post on the Pyromaniac comments page the other day. With all this talk of prophets and prophecies today, the Highland Host decided to bring the searchlight of Scottish Church history to bear upon this matter.
Doubtless some have heard of Alexander Peden, and those who know his background can skip this introductory post and come back later for the meat and potatoes, so to speak.

Alexander Peden was born in the parish of Sorn, Ayrshire, in 1626. Of his childhood we know only that he had one. In due course he went up to the University of Glasgow, but all we know of his time there was that he was a good student. When his university course was complete, Peden took the post of schoolmaster, precentor and session-clerk at Tarbolton, a parish neighboring Sorn. At some point either before or after this, Peden was precentor for William Guthrie at Fenwick.
Peden was ordained to the recently established parish of New Luce in 1659, the second minister to serve the parish since its creation in 1647. Peden served in New Luce for only three brief years. Refusing to swear the oath of allegiance to King Charles II as "only supreme governor of the kingdom over all persons and in all causes civil and ecclesiastical", Peden was ejected from the parish in 1662, one of four hundred ministers ejected in all of Scotland. He was prohibited from preaching, and spent the rest of his life as a fugitive, preaching where he could, hiding in caves and dens of the earth. And around his head gathered the reputation of a prophet.
To which I shall turn, the Lord willing, in the next post.