Cromwell in league with the Devil--Cromwell
consulting Astrologers--Memorable Days in the Life of
Cromwell--Singular Narrative--Duke of Hamilton warned
of his Fate--Peden's Predictions--Traditions
concerning Peden--John Brown the Martyr--Linlithgow
Loch Swans--Hereford Children--Great
Comet--Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter at Eventful
Periods--Solomon's Power over Evil Spirits and over
the Beasts of the Field.
Fabulous relations are given in connection with the career of
Cromwell. We are told he was in league with the devil, to whom he
sold himself for a brief period of power among a people whom he
ruled with a rod of iron, and trampled their rulers under his feet.
That Cromwell used to consult astrologers, there can be little doubt.
He was accustomed to obtain advice from Lilly, the wizard, before
entering into any important engagement. In particular, he sought
the assistance of Lilly before he entered Parliament, and when he
besieged Dunkirk. The 3rd of September was a memorable day in the
life of Cromwell, for on a 3rd of September he fought his two most
famous battles, and on a 3rd of September he yielded up the
ghost--circumstances that gave colour to the reports circulated
concerning the help and protection he received from Satan. Colonel
Lindsay was responsible for the extraordinary stories spread abroad
affecting the character of the dictator. From the colonel's statement,
it appears that on the morning of the 3rd September 1651, the day on
which the battle of Worcester was fought and the forces of Charles II.
were routed, Cromwell and Lindsay entered a dark wood near the
battlefield. Lindsay, unaware of the object Cromwell had in view in
being in such a gloomy place, and thinking he perceived something
strange in the appearance of his leader, was seized with horror and
trembling, which prevented him going farther. Cromwell proceeded a
short distance alone. He was met by an old man with a roll of
parchment in his hand, which he gave to Cromwell, who perused it
carefully. An altercation took place between Cromwell and the old man
or devil, during which Lindsay heard Cromwell say, "This is but for
seven years; I was to get twenty-one." The being to whom he spoke,
replied that only seven years could be given. Cromwell, modifying his
demands, craved fourteen years, but the old man was inexorable. "Seven
years, and no more," he sternly replied. And the document, whatever
was its real meaning or tendency, was signed by the two parties, with
the "seven years" undeleted. As soon as the signatures were adhibited,
Cromwell hastily returned to Lindsay, standing in amazement, and said
with great emotion, "Now the battle is ours!" Cromwell and Lindsay
were soon at their posts in the field, the former resolute and
hopeful, the latter dismayed and irresolute. To retain his proper
place in the field was Lindsay's intention; but after the first charge
his courage forsook him, and he fled as fast as his charger could
carry him, although no man pursued. The king's troops were beaten,
leaving Cromwell master of the position. Prior to the result of the
day's engagement being communicated by mortal man to Lindsay, he made
known to a clergyman what had taken place in the morning, finishing
his statement in these words: "I am sure the king's forces are beaten,
and I am certain Cromwell will die this day seven years, for he has
sold himself to the devil, who will not fail to claim him then."
Ever after this memorable day, Cromwell regarded the 3rd of September
auspicious to him, as well he might; for in addition to the events at
Worcester, it was on the same day of that month, in 1650, that he
gained the battle of Dunbar. Years rolled on, in the course of which
Cromwell encountered numerous dangers, and escaped conspiracies and
plots, provoked by serious crimes, yet he survived to breathe his last
on downy pillows, on the anniversary of his great triumphs at Dunbar
and Worcester. Neither the clang of swords nor the roar of guns
disturbed his last moments, but a dreadful commotion raged all around.
Nature seemed to have lashed itself into a rage: a high wind, such as
had never been heard before by the oldest inhabitants, unroofed houses
on land, and caused wrecks at sea. In the midst of the tempest were
heard shrieks, not of men, but of spirits revelling in the gale, as it
carried destruction and death over the country. Notwithstanding
Cromwell's body being embalmed and put into a leaden coffin, the
stench therefrom became so insufferable, that the remains had to be
immediately consigned to the grave, and afterwards the funeral
ceremonies were performed over an empty coffin,--so at least says
Echard, on whose authority we give the foregoing particulars
concerning the Lord Protector. Though Cromwell's dust was interred in
Westminster, it was not permitted to rest there. In January 1661, on
the anniversary of the death of Charles I., his decayed body was
disinterred and conveyed to Tyburn, where it was hanged on a gallows,
then cut down, and the trunk cast into a pit, while the head was set
up on a pole at Westminster Hall.
The Duke of Hamilton, who was executed in the year 1649, was warned of
his fate by a witch. She said the king would be put to death, and that
he would be his successor. This prediction being delivered somewhat
ambiguously, Hamilton misunderstood its meaning. His impression was
that he was to obtain the crown (which led him to act treacherously
towards his Majesty), whereas the beldam meant that he would succeed
the king on the scaffold.
Peden, one of the celebrated Covenanters, who was persecuted for
righteousness' sake, foretold many of the woes that Scotland would
pass through before the Church could have peace. The good old man died
a natural death in his bed, and his bones were decently interred by
the Boswells of Auchinleck in their family vault, under the deep
shadows of wide spreading plane-trees. This honour coming to the ears
of the soldiers in the garrison of Sorn, forty days after the
interment, they cruelly rifled the tomb of its dead. There is a
tradition in the district to the present day, that when the soldiers
burst open the coffin and tore off the shroud, there came a sudden
blast like a whirlwind, though the day had previously been without a
breath of stirring air, which caught up the shroud, and twisted it
round a large projecting branch of one of the plane-trees. From that
day the branch withered away, and remained, for ages like a black
shrivelled arm uplifted to heaven, as a protest against the
sacrilegious crime. This is only one of the many wondrous tales
concerning Peden, who was known far and wide as "The Prophet." Peden's
remains were carried to the hill above Cumnock, where the common
gallows stood, and there, in spite of the remonstrances of the
Boswells and the Countess of Dumfries, suspended on the gibbet. When
cut down, the body was interred, like that of a felon, at the foot of
the gallows-tree. At that time the churchyard of Cumnock was in the
town, but the old residenters, generation after generation, on seeing
their end approaching, desired to be buried beside the old prophet.
Thus the gallows-hill of Cumnock became the ordinary burying-ground of
the town. Two old thorn bushes mark the spot where the prophet's ashes
rest, in the midst of the remains of those he loved while in the land
that groaned under the despotic sway of relentless tyrants.
Though Peden died, as we have stated, a natural death, he suffered
great persecution in his life on account of his religion. His
persecutors, who often pursued him as a beast of prey, at last seized
him, confined him a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, immured him in a
dungeon on the Bass Rock, and sentenced him, along with sixty others,
to banishment in America, then a penal settlement. Chained together,
Peden and his companions were marched to Leith, and conveyed on board
a ship for London, from thence to be taken to Virginia. Seeing his
companions in bonds dejected, Peden shouted out to them, in presence
and hearing of their guard, "Fear not, brethren, the ship is not yet
built that will take us either to Virginia or any foreign plantation."
Uneasiness was felt on board the ship, in consequence of a report
being spread among the prisoners that thumbkins and other instruments
of torture were to be used to them as implements of punishment. Peden
assured his fellow-passengers that their fears were groundless, for,
said he, neither thumbkins nor bodkins would hurt them. A tedious
voyage of a fortnight brought them to London. When they were about to
be put on board the vessel that was to carry them to Virginia, the
captain of the foreign ship, discovering the character of those
intended to be banished, declared that no authority in the world would
compel him to go to sea with them. As another ship could not be
procured, the prisoners were set at liberty, as Peden predicted.
Fortunately for the discharged persons, they were befriended by Lord
Shaftesbury, an ancestor of the present Lord Shaftesbury, who, along
with other friends, provided for their immediate wants.
One morning, while Peden was at his devotions, a young girl fourteen
years old began to mock him. The good man, turning an eye of pity on
her, said, "Poor thing, thou laughest and mockest, but a sudden and
surprising judgment on thee will soon stay the laughter of many." This
was when he was in confinement on the Bass Rock. Shortly afterwards a
swift gust of wind swept her into the sea, where she was lost.
Alexander (this was his Christian name) Peden said to a brother and
sister during his last illness, "You will all be displeased at the
place where I shall be buried at last. I could have wished to lie in
the grave of my beloved Richard Cameron; but I shall not be allowed to
rest where you lay me, though my bones shall at last be glorified."
Peden foretold the early and violent death of the martyr John Brown.
Addressing Mrs. Brown one day, he said, "Isabel, you have got a good
man to be your husband, but you will not enjoy him long; prize his
company, and keep linen beside you for his winding sheet, for you will
need it when you are not looking for it, and it will be a bloody one."
Brown had a presentiment, too, that his end would be a tragical one.
The end did come early. Claverhouse, who had been searching for him as
well as for several other Covenanters, suddenly surprised him one
morning, and ordered the dragoons to bring him in front of his
(Brown's) house, where stood his weeping wife and helpless children.
"Go to your prayers," shouted Claverhouse, "for immediately you shall
die." Mrs. Brown exclaimed, "This is the day I have expected;" and
Brown, while addressing a few farewell words to his beloved spouse,
said calmly, "Isabel, this is what I told you of before we were
married." Mrs. Brown was dragged from the side of her husband, who
stood resigned to his fate. "Fire!" cried Claverhouse, and instantly
the martyr fell, pierced through by half a dozen bullets.
According to Wodrow, the Scottish historian, the swans which were on
Linlithgow Loch when the English obtained the mastery in Scotland,
disappeared. On the king's return, the swans came back. Their flight
was considered to foreshadow evil to the royal family, and their
reappearance was regarded as a happy omen.
So great was the consternation caused about the middle of the
seventeenth century by prodigious apparitions, that lamentations were
heard in every dwelling. Women who were with child brought forth
prematurely. At Hereford the town-clerk's wife bore three children at
a birth, who, we are told, had all teeth, and spoke immediately after
they were born. One said, "The day is appointed that no man can shun;"
another asked, "Who will be sufficient to bury the dead?" and a third
predicted that "there will not be enough of corn to feed the hungry."
Each having thus expressed himself, expired.
In the year 1680 a great comet appeared, striking every beholder with
awe. The terror partly arose from the fact that Kepler, the
astronomer, had calculated that the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter
in Leo, which happens only once in eight hundred years, and which took
place at the time of the appearance of this comet, would have an evil
influence on the Romish Church. The consternation was increased by
mathematicians declaring that the comet was six times longer than
that which portended the death of Pope Alexander VII. These
conjunctions were believed to have been always attended with important
circumstances on earth. Tycho Brahe reckoned them thus:--The first, he
said, was under Enoch; the second under Noah; the third under Moses;
the fourth under Solomon; the fifth under a greater than Solomon; the
sixth under Charlemagne, when the Romans were subdued; and the seventh
conjunction was at the time first mentioned. Those who have made
themselves acquainted with the cruel persecutions in the year 1680 and
subsequent years, will not refuse to admit that, whether Kepler did or
did not know beforehand through astronomical calculations what dire
calamities were to take place on account of truth, his words prepared
many for coming danger, and emboldened them to struggle on until
Protestantism triumphed over Papacy.
In the _Day of Rest_ for September 1877 we find the following
statement relative to Solomon:--"Eastern traditions inform us that
Solomon possessed the secret power of expelling demons; that he
composed spells by which diseases were removed; and that he left
behind him exorcisms by which devils were driven away, never to
return. In wild exaggerated stories in the Talmud, Solomon is credited
with having dominion over the wild beasts, and over the birds of
heaven, and over the creeping beasts of earth, and over all devils and
spirits of darkness. He understood the languages of them all, and they
understood him. On one occasion, proceeds the legend, when the wise
king's heart was influenced with wine, he commanded that all the wild
beasts, birds, and creeping things of earth, and also the devils and
spirits of darkness, should be gathered together, that they might
dance before him. And what is most wonderful, if the Rabbis lie not,
every one that was summoned appeared before Solomon, and took part in
the great dance."
THE DRUIDS.