FORBES, John

FORBES, John, one of the most learned divines that Scotland has produced, was born May 2, 1593. He was the descendant of an ancient and opulent family: his father was Patrick Forbes, bishop of Aberdeen, his mother was Lucretia the daughter of David Spence of Wormiston. His paternal ancestor was a younger son of Lord Forbes, and he was thus connected with some of the principal families in his native district.

John Forbes, who was the second son of Patrick Forbes, after having studied at Aberdeen, was sent to the university of Heidelberg. He likewise prosecuted his studies at Sedan, and in other universities. Having devoted much time and labour to the acquisition of Greek and Hebrew, he returned to his native country in 1619, being then in the twenty-sixth year of his age, and on the 27th of April he was admitted professor of divinity in King's College, Aberdeen, where he laboured with great diligence, and acquired the character of an able and useful teacher. He was skilled in ecclesiastical antiquity; and, not content with de-

livering what is called a system of divinity, he exhibited a very elaborate deduction of the progress of Christian doctrine in various ages of the church. Of the value of his instructions in this department, a very adequate opinion may be formed from the perusal of a work which he published in the maturity of his learning and judgment. Nor did he neglect to instruct his students in practical religion: one division of his lectures related to moral theology, another to the pastoral care and to residence.

While he was engaged in these useful and honourable labours, the kingdom was agitated by religious dissensions. Episcopacy, commonly described by the more odious name of prelacy, was no favourite with the great body of the people; and the five articles of Perth, passed in 1618, and relating to kneeling at the communion, the observance of festivals, confirmation, private baptism, and private communion, had excited a violence of opposition with which it was found very difficult to contend. Dr Forbes, who was as much distinguished by his piety as by his learning, endeavoured to promote peaceable measures; and with this view, he published his earliest work, bearing the title of Irenicum Amatoribus Veritatis et Pacis in Ecclesia Scoticana.¹ Aberdeen, 1629, 4to. Of this work he sent a copy to Archbishop Usher, who received it with much cordiality. The bishop of Aberdeen did not live to witness the subversion of episcopacy: he died on the 28th of March 1635, in the seventy-first year of his age. This prelate being regarded as the restorer of the university, and as a great pillar of the church, his death was sincerely lamented by the adherents of his own party. As his eldest son had died ten years before, the professor of divinity succeeded to the family estates. Soon after the bishop's decease, a volume of 429 pages, and including a portrait, was published under the following title:—"Funerals of a Right Reverend Father in God, Patrick Forbes of Corse, Bishop of Aberdeen. Tōō ἰν ἀγίοις Reverendissimi in Christo Patris, Patricii Forbesii a Corse, Episcopi Abredoniensis, Tumulus, a multis omnium ordinum collachrymantibus variegato opere exornatus." Aberdeen, 1635, 4to.

Dr Forbes, who was naturally disposed to think that nothing is better than peace,² next published "A peaceable Warning to the Subjects in Scotland; given in the year of God 1638." Aberdeen, 4to. It was speedily answered in a tract ascribed to Calderwood, the most strenuous defender of the Presbyterian cause. Dr Forbes was treated with some degree of tenderness; and the Covenanters being solicitous to gain such a convert, the proceedings against him in the ecclesiastical courts were protracted for several years. After some preliminary steps, he was in 1640 cited to appear at Aberdeen before a delegation of the general assembly. He was declared to be free from the taint of popery and Arminianism; but as he still adhered to episcopacy, and declined to subscribe the covenant, his case, through the influence of Baillie, was remitted to the presbytery of Edinburgh. He was allowed a month to yield satisfaction to this judicatory, and as he failed to do so, sentence of deprivation was pronounced against him. In 1643 he moved the synod of Aberdeen to make application to the general assembly, that he might be permitted to retain his professorship without subscription; but it was there determined that his deprivation was valid from the beginning. He had purchased two houses adjoining to the college, and had assigned one of them to the professor of divinity, and the other to the cantor, a person on the foundation. In the deed of conveyance, he neglected to reserve to himself a liferent in the professor's house; nor can it be mentioned

Forbes. without regret and indignation that he was obliged to resign it to his successor in office.

He was anxious to continue his residence in the university, for the benefit of prosecuting his researches in the public libraries; but he found that he must either subscribe the solemn league and covenant, or abandon his native country. Preferring the latter alternative, he embarked for Holland on the 5th of April 1644, and, after a voyage of five days, landed at Campvere. He travelled through the different provinces, and frequently preached in the Scottish and English churches. He had formerly married a lady of Middelburg, named Soete Roos-boom, who died on the 19th of January 1640. She was the mother of nine children; but only one of them, a son named George, was alive at the time of the father's exile. Dr Forbes resided chiefly at Amsterdam, and occupied himself in preparing for the press a work of great research and value. It appeared under the title of "Instructiones Historico-Theologicae de Doctrina Christiana, et vario Rerum Statu, ortisque Erroribus et Controversiis, jam inde a temporibus Apostolicis ad tempora usque seculi decimi-septimi priora." Amst. 1645, fol. A second edition followed after a considerable interval. Geneva, 1680, fol. And an abridgment of the work was published by Arnoldus Montanus, under the title of Forbesius contractus. Amst. 1663, 8vo. Forbes was enabled to prefix to his ample volume the favourable judgment of the theological faculties of Leyden, Utrecht, and Franeker, as well as that of Rivet, Maresius, and Vossius. This book established the reputation of the author as a theologian of a very high rank. Bishop Burnet speaks of it as "a work which, if he had finished it, and had been suffered to enjoy the privacies of his retirement and study, to give us the second volume, had been the greatest treasure of theological learning that perhaps the world has yet seen."¹ Dr Cave has likewise mentioned it as a work of great value,² and it has received similar commendation from writers of many different nations.

After having resided upwards of two years in Holland, Forbes embarked at Campvere on the 8th, and arrived at Aberdeen on the 14th of July 1646. He immediately retired to his country-seat at Corse, and was permitted to spend the remainder of his days in learned and devout seclusion. He died on the 29th of April 1648, having completed the fifty-fifth year of his age. A short time before his death, he made application to the presbytery for permission to have his bones deposited in Bishop Dunbar's aisle in the cathedral church, beside those of his father and wife; but even this last favour was denied to a learned and excellent man, whose fault was a difference of opinion on the subject, not of Christian doctrine, but of ecclesiastical polity. He then directed his body to be interred in the churchyard of Leochel, where no monument was erected to his memory.³ He left an only son, who is described by Dr Garden as the heir of his father's estates, but not of his virtues.

Dr Forbes was small in stature, and of a somewhat swarthy complexion; and, with respect to his habits of study, we are informed that he always read and wrote in a standing posture. One of the few relaxations in which he indulged was the game of golf. His conduct was upright and consistent in times of no small difficulty and distress.

An honourable monument was at length erected to his memory, in a collective edition of his Latin works. "Reverendi viri Johannis Forbesii a Corse, Presbyteri et SS. Theologiae Doctoris, ejusdemque Professoris in Academia Aberdeenensi, Opera omnia, inter quae plurima posthuma, reliqua ab ipso auctore interpolata, emendata atque aucta." Amstelodami, 1703, 2 tom. fol. The second volume bears the date of 1702. The edition is introduced by two dedications

written by George Garden, D.D., an advertisement by Wetstein the printer, and a preface by Dr Gürtler, professor of divinity at Deventer. A copious life of the author, by Dr Garden, is next subjoined. Under the title of "J. Forbesii Vita interior," he has had added an abstract of Forbes's diary, which was written in English. One of the posthumous works is an ample treatise, entitled "Theologiae Moralis libri decem; in quibus Precepta Decalogi exponuntur, et variae circa Dei Legem, et specialia ejusdem Precepta, Controversia dissolvuntur, et Casus Conscientia explicantur."

Forbes, William, bishop of Edinburgh, born at Aberdeen in the year 1585, was the son of Thomas Forbes, a respectable citizen descended from Forbes of Corsinday, whose ancestor was the second son of the same Lord Forbes from whom Forbes of Corse derived his lineage. His mother was Janet the sister of Dr Cargill, an eminent physician. From the grammar-school, where he had made unusual progress, he was at the early age of twelve removed to Marischal College, and there took the degree of A.M. The principal, Gilbert Gray, was so much pleased with his scholarship and modesty, that he procured his appointment to the professorship of logic. It was his duty to teach the logic of Aristotle, whom he very strenuously defended against the attacks of Ramus. This office he resigned at the expiration of four years, and afterwards prosecuted his theological studies on the Continent. Having landed at Dantzic, he travelled through a great part of Prussia and Poland. He studied in several of the universities, particularly those of Helmstädt and Heidelberg. He rendered himself familiar with the writings of the fathers and schoolmen; and in the Hebrew language he became a great proficient. After spending four years in Germany, he went to Holland, and visited the university of Leyden, where his relation Dr Jack was then a professor of philosophy; and thence he sailed for England. From London he proceeded to Oxford, where his learning was held in so much estimation that he was offered the professorship of Hebrew in that university; but his countryman Dr Craig, physician to the king, advised him to consult his health by returning to his native air; and he accordingly arrived at Aberdeen, after an absence of five years. The corporation immediately conferred upon him the freedom of the city. When his health was in some measure restored, he was appointed minister of Alford, whence he was removed to Monymusk. He soon acquired the reputation of a most eloquent preacher, and after a short interval he became one of the ministers of Aberdeen. During the king's visit to St Andrews in the year 1617, Forbes was created D.D.; and not long after, he was nominated principal of Marischal College, where he not only read lectures in divinity, but likewise taught Hebrew. After retaining the office for two years, he was induced to accept of a pastoral charge in Edinburgh, where, however, he soon discovered that his character and doctrines were held in much less estimation than in his native city. Aberdeen was the stronghold of Episcopacy, and its clergy were among the most learned and respectable of the Episcopalians; but in Edinburgh the Presbyterians were the predominant party, and Dr Forbes therefore found himself placed in a situation far from agreeable. When he already thought of resigning his living, his old friends at Aberdeen induced him to resume his spiritual labours among them, and there he continued to reside till near the close of his life. When King Charles visited Edinburgh in the year 1633, Forbes was one of those who preached before him; and the king was so much struck with his eloquence, that when he erected the new see he spontaneously nominated him as the first bishop. His patent bears the date of January 26, 1634; but he was not long permitted to enjoy his new dignity: he died on

Force
Forchheim. the 11th of April, before he had completed the third month of his episcopate, and when he had only attained the forty-ninth year of his age. His remains were interred in the cathedral church of St Giles.

Bishop Forbes was a man of very extensive reading, but he did not himself publish any work. Twenty-four years after the author's death, however, Thomas Sydserf, bishop of Galloway,¹ published "Considerationes modestae et pacificae Controversiarum de Justificatione, Purgatorio, Invocatione Sanctorum et Christo Mediatore, Eucharistia, per Gulielmum Forbesium, S. T. D. et Episcopum Edinburgensem primum. Opus posthumum, diu desideratum." Lond. 1658, 8vo. The preface, subscribed T. G., that is, Thomas Gallovidensis, is followed by an account of the author's life. This volume, which was reprinted at Helmstädt in the year 1704, attracted a very considerable degree of attention, and is mentioned by many of the continental writers.² The character of the learned author has thus been drawn by Bishop Burnet: "He was a grave and eminent divine: my father, that knew him long, and being of council for him in his law-matters, had occasion to know him well, has often told me, that he never saw him but he thought his heart was in heaven, and he was never alone with him but he felt within himself a commentary on these words of the apostles, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he yet talked with us, and opened to us the Scriptures?' He preached with a zeal and vehemence that made him forget all the measures of time; two or three hours was no extraordinary thing for him; those sermons wasted his strength so fast, and his ascetical course of life was such, and he supplied it so scantily, that he dyed within a year after his promotion; so that he only appeared there long enough to be known, but not long enough to do what might have been otherwise expected from so great a prelate. That little remnant of his that is in print shews how learned he was. I do not deny but his earnest desire of a general peace and union among all Christians has made him too favourable to many of the corruptions in the Church of Rome: but tho' a charity that is not well balanced may carry one to very indiscreet things, yet the principle from whence they flowed in him was so truly good, that the errors to which it carried him ought to be either excused, or at least to be very gently censured."³