s
will astonish no one who is acquainted with man's power in prayer.
Prayer was the secret of Peden's prescience. God proceeds on established
principles, in His dealings with His people. "The secret of the Lord is
with them that fear Him." "And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham
that thing which I do?" Peden's prayers on certain occasions lasted all
night. Communion with God was his delight; he lived in the presence of
the Almighty; his hiding-place was in the brightness of the light
shining from the face of Jesus Christ. His heart was burdened with the
interests of Christ's kingdom. Therefore God gave him eyes to see much
that was hidden from others.

He was sixty miles away when the Covenanters fell on the field of
Rullion Green. News then traveled no faster than a horse. That evening
he was sad. A friend inquired the cause. He replied, "To-morrow I shall
tell you." That night he retired to his room, but went not to bed; he
spent the hours in prayer. Next morning he said, "Our friends, that were
in arms for Christ's interest, are now broken, killed, taken, and fled,
every man."

He was forty miles away on the dismal Sabbath, when the Covenanters were
slaughtered at Bothwell Bridge. He had an engagement to preach. The
people assembled in a solitary place for the service. They were hungry
for the Word of God, but Peden did not appear. At noon they sent to know
the cause. He replied, "Let the people go to their prayers; I neither
can, nor will preach this day, for our friends are fallen and fleed
before the enemy; they are hagging and hacking them down, and their
blood is running like water."

[Illustration: PEDEN AT CAMERON'S GRAVE.

When Peden was old, he wandered one day to the grave of Cameron. There
he sat down in deep meditation. Desolation brooded over the scene. The
solitude of his life, too, was crushing. His dearest companions in
persecution had fallen in the hard-fought battle. They had received
their crown, and were with the Lord in glory, while he was yet pursued
like a partridge on the mountains. His heart heaved a heavy sigh, and
from his lips came the memorable words, "O, to be wi Richie."]

One day while preaching, he arose in a flight of inspiration,
exclaiming, "I must tell you, in the name of the Lord, who sent me unto
you this day, to tell you these things, that ere it be very long, the
living shall not be able to bury the dead in thee, O Scotland; and many
a mile shall ye walk, or ride,