Barbara Peebles

Last updated
Barbara Peebles
Died1670?
NationalityScottish
Known forPresbyterian visionary and prophet

Barbara Peebles was a Scottish Presbyterian, visionary and prophet known to have been active in the 1660s.

Contents

Visions and prophesies

Peebles' visions began in 1660 during an illness when she expected to die. She described the power going from her body and a temporary loss of speech. [1] On 20 July 1660, she prophesied martyrdoms and persecution, and God sanctioned to her the Presbyterian form of church government; she is thought to have been a member of a praying circle that was focussed around a radical Presbyterian minister. [2] In December 1666, she wrote in a letter that she had seen Christ weep tears of blood because of the King, Charles II. [2] In one of her visions, Peebles said she had visited heaven. [3]

As a Presbyterian visionary, she was cautious to describe her visions within the context of theology appropriate to her creed. [3] It has been noted that "Her visions fit the biblical role model of Hulda, the prophetess who served an Old Testament covenanted king": in this, she may have seen her role as eventually speaking personally to Charles, persuading him to take on the new Covenant. [2] [1]

Writing

Peebles wrote an autobiography, dated 20 July 1660, titled The Exercise of a Private Christian, or Barbara Peebles' Trance. This was copied and circulated, probably amongst fellow Presbyterians, and three copies survive. [4] This recording of her own visions, rather than the transcription being undertaken by a man, was more unusual for a woman visionary and may explain why Peebles used God as a defence for her move to manifest her visions to the ministry. [1] Records of Peebles' visions are collected in the Wodrow MSS. [1] [2]

Historical context

Peebles' work as a prophet may be part of a larger context of prophecy by women in her era's religious discussions and events. [5] Scottish Presbyterians were persecuted during the Commonwealth rule and then following Charles II's Restoration in 1660. [5] Yeoman notes that Peebles' July 1660 visions and prophesies were two months after the restoration to the throne of Charles, and that her December 1666 vision was very shortly after the defeat in battle at Rullion Green of the Presbyterians. [1] In this sense, they act as a commentary on and explanation of crises. [1]

Birthdate, family life, and death

Peebles' birthdate and date of death are not known although she may be the Barbara Peebles who died in Edinburgh in 1670. [2] Details in some of Peebles' writings show that she was married. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book of Amos</span> Book of the Bible

The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the second in the Greek Septuagint tradition. According to the Bible, Amos was an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, and was active c. 750 BC during the reign of Jeroboam II of Samaria, while Uzziah was King of Judah. Amos is said to have lived in the kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern Kingdom of Israel where themes of social justice, God's omnipotence, and divine judgment became staples of prophecy. In recent years, scholars have grown more skeptical of The Book of Amos’ presentation of Amos’ biography and background. It is known for its distinct “sinister tone and violent portrayal of God.”

The Book of Hosea is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. According to the traditional order of most Hebrew Bibles, it is the first of the Twelve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Binning</span> Scottish philosopher and theologian

Hugh Binning (1627–1653) was a Scottish philosopher and theologian. He was born in Scotland during the reign of Charles I and was ordained in the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. He died in 1653, during the time of Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prophecy</span> Message claimed to be from a deity

In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or preternatural knowledge, for example of future events. They can be revealed to the prophet in various ways depending on the religion and the story, such as visions, or direct interaction with divine beings in physical form. Stories of prophetic deeds sometimes receive considerable attention and some have been known to survive for centuries through oral tradition or as religious texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isobel Gowdie</span> Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Auldearn near Nairn during 1662

Isobel Gowdie was a Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Auldearn near Nairn during 1662. Scant information is available about her age or life and, although she was probably executed in line with the usual practice, it is uncertain whether this was the case or if she was allowed to return to the obscurity of her former life as a cottar’s wife. Her detailed testimony, apparently achieved without the use of violent torture, provides one of the most comprehensive insights into European witchcraft folklore at the end of the era of witch-hunts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Peden</span> Scottish covenanter (1626–1686)

Alexander Peden, also known as "Prophet Peden", was one of the leading figures in the Covenanter movement in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Wodrow</span> Scottish minister and Covenanter historian

Robert Wodrow was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educated at the university and was librarian from 1697 to 1701. From 1703 till his death, he was parish minister at Eastwood, near Glasgow. He had sixteen children, his son Patrick being the "auld Wodrow" of Burns's poem Twa Herds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Killing Time</span> 1679-1688 suppression of Presbyterians in Scotland

The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the southwest of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII. The period, roughly from 1679 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was subsequently called The Killing Time by Robert Wodrow in his The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, published in 1721–22. It is an important episode in the martyrology of the Church of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Rullion Green</span> 1666 battle of the Scottish Covenanter Wars

The Battle of Rullion Green took place on 28 November 1666, near the Pentland Hills, in Midlothian, Scotland. It was the only significant battle of the Pentland Rising, a brief revolt by Covenanter dissidents against the Scottish government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micah (prophet)</span> Prophet in Judaism

According to the Hebrew Bible, Micah, also known as Micheas, was a prophet in the Bible and is the author of the Book of Micah. He is considered one of the Twelve Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible and was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. Micah was from Moresheth-Gath, in southwest Judah. He prophesied during the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Keith (minister)</span> Church of Scotland minister (1791–1880)

Alexander Keith was a Church of Scotland and Free Church minister, known for his writings on biblical prophecy. Keith interpreted the bible as teaching a premillennial view of Jesus' return and many of his books relate to the place of the Jews and how they relate to Jewish and Christian prophecies in the Bible. Keith, along with Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Andrew Bonar, and Alexander Black visited Palestine on a missionary trip. Taking a faster route home than their other companions Black and Keith passed through Budapest. Keith contracted cholera and nearly died but was influential in setting up a mission to the Jews in Hungary. At the Disruption, Keith sided with the Free Church and continued to minister to a congregation at St Cyrus and to publish works on biblical prophecy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Covenanters</span> 17th-century Scottish Presbyterians

Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son Charles I over church organisation and doctrine, but expanded into political conflict over the limits of royal authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restoration (Scotland)</span> The Restoration in Scotland

The Restoration was the return of the monarchy to Scotland in 1660 after the period of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent three decades of Scottish history until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689. It was part of a wider Restoration in the British Isles that included the return of the Stuart dynasty to the thrones of England and Ireland in the person of Charles II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed Presbyterian Global Alliance</span>

The Reformed Presbyterian Global Alliance is a communion of Presbyterians originating in Scotland in 1690 when its members refused to conform to the establishment of the Church of Scotland. The Reformed Presbyterian churches collectively have approximately 9,500 members worldwide in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, France, the United States of America, Canada, Japan, South Sudan, and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish religion in the seventeenth century</span> Religious organisation and belief in the Kingdom of Scotland in the 17th century

Scottish religion in the seventeenth century includes all forms of religious organisation and belief in the Kingdom of Scotland in the seventeenth century. The 16th century Reformation created a Church of Scotland, popularly known as the kirk, predominantly Calvinist in doctrine and Presbyterian in structure, to which James VI added a layer of bishops in 1584.

Alison Pearson was executed for witchcraft. On being tried in 1588, she confessed to visions of a fairy court.

Events from the 1660s in the Kingdom of Scotland.

William Veitch. He was the youngest son of John Veitch, the minister of Roberton, Lanarkshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, graduating with an M.A. in 1659. He became a tutor in the family of Sir Andrew Ker of Greenhead. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Lanark in 1664. Having identified himself with the Pentland Rising, he was outlawed, and escaped to Newcastle, where he became chaplain in the family of the Mayor. In 1671 he was ordained to a meeting-house at Fallowlees, a remote spot among the Simonside Hills, Rothbury. From that he removed to Hanamhall, in the same district, and afterwards to Seaton Hall, Longhorsly. Whilst living at the latter place under the assumed name of William [or George] Johnston, he was arrested on 16 January, and sentenced to the Bass Rock 22 February 1679.. Veitch was liberated on 17 July 1680, and returned to Newcastle. He aided Archibald, Earl of Argyll, in his escape from Scotland in 1681. In 1683 he went to Holland, and in 1685 he was again in Northumberland acting as an agent on behalf of Monmouth. Soon afterwards he was settled as minister of a meeting-house at Beverley, Yorkshire. Having returned to Scotland, he was called to Whitton Hall, Morebattle, April 1688. In 1690 he was minister of Peebles, and in September 1694, he was admitted to Dumfries. He demitted on 19 May 1715. His death was on 8 May 1722. In 1705 he presented to the church two communion cups.

Louise Yeoman is a historian and broadcaster specialising in the Scottish witch hunts and 17th century Scottish religious beliefs.

Margaret Mitchelson was a Scottish prophet. Her father may have been the East Lothian minister of Yester, James Mitchelson.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yeoman, Louise (2009). "Away with the fairies". In Henderson, Lizanne (ed.). Fantastical imaginations: the supernatural in Scottish history and culture. J. Donald. ISBN   9781906566029.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Ewan, Elizabeth; Pipes, Rose; Rendall, Jane; Reynolds, Siân (2017). The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edinburgh University Press. p. 351. ISBN   9781474436274.
  3. 1 2 Goodare, Julian (2019). "Seely wights, fairies and nature spirits in Scotland". In Pócs, Éva (ed.). Body, Soul, Spirits and Supernatural Communication. Cambridge Scholars. p. 229. ISBN   9781527522312.
  4. Stevenson, Jane (2012). "Reading, Writing and Gender in Early Modern Scotland". The Seventeenth Century. 27 (3): 337. doi:10.7227/TSC.27.3.5. hdl: 2164/5618 . S2CID   162393545 via Taylor and Francis.
  5. 1 2 Simonova, N. "New evidence for the reading of sectarian women's prophecies". Notes and Queries. 60 (1): 69.