ROBERT BAILLIE, D. D.
AN EMINENT PRESBYTERIAN DIVINE
AND ONE OF THE
COMMISSIONERS FROM THAT CHURCH
TO THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER.
ROBERT BAILLIE was born in Glasgow, in the year 1599. His
father, Mr Thomas Baillie, was a citizen of that place, and son to Baillie of
Jerviston, who was a brother of the Family of Carphin, and a branch of the
ancient Family of Lamington, all in the county of Lanerk. Baillie of Hoprig and
Lamington was a branch of the Baliols, Lords of Galloway. Hoprig, by marrying
the daughter of the famous Sir William Wallace, Regent of Scotland, obtained
the estate of Lamington. Their second son was the first of the House of
Carphin; of whom Jerviston, the predecessor of our author, according to
Nisbets Heraldry. His mothers name was Helen Gibson, of the stock
of the Gibsons of Dune, several of whom were eminently distinguished by making
a great figure in the Law.
Our Robert Baillie received his education in the
University of Glasgow, his native city, Robert Baillie, under the care and
direction of Mr Sharp, who was then the head of that College. When at the
University, he was a remarkable example of great literary diligence, giving
always very close attention to his studies. Having taken his degrees in the
arts, he turned his thoughts to the study of divinity, to which he applied with
indefatigable industry. And having, about the year 1622, received orders from
Archbishop Law, he was chosen a Regent of Philosophy in the University of
Glasgow. While he was in that station, he had, for some years, the care of the
education of Lord Montgomery, who, at length, carried him with him to
Kilwinning; to which church he was
presented by the Earl of Eglinton.
There he lived in the strictest
friendship with that noble family, and with his people; as he did also with his
ordinary, the Archbishop of Glasgow, with whom he kept up an epistolary
correspondence. In the year 1633, he declined, from a principle of modesty, an
offer which was made to him of a church in Edinburgh. Being requested, in 1637,
by the Archbishop of Glasgow, to preach a sermon before the General Assembly,
in recommendation of the Book of Common-Prayer, and the Canon of the Church,
then published and established by authority, he declined the service; and wrote
a handsome letter to the Archbishop, assigning the reasons of his refusal. The
letter is dated at Kilwinning, Aug. 19th, 1657, and is as follows:
Please Your Lordship, Your Lordships letter of the 7th of this
instant, I received the 13th, late, wherein I am desired to preach the last
Wednesday of this instant, before the Assembly, and to frame my sermon to unite
my hearers to the obedience and practice of the canon of our church and Service
book, published and established by authority. I am much obliged to your
Lordships estimation of my poor gifts, and do humbly thank your Lordship
for intending to honour me with so great a service: but withal am sorry that my
present disposition necessitates me to decline the charge. The truth is, that
as yet I have not studied the matters contained in that Book of our Canons and
Common-prayer, only I have taken a slight view of them; whereby, for the
present, my mind is no ways satisfied; yea, the little plcasure I have in these
books, and the great displeasure [find the most part have, both of pastors and
people wherever I come, conceived of them, have filled my mind with such a
measure of grief, that I am scarcely able to preach to my own flock: but to
preach in another congregation, and so famous a meeting, upon these matters, I
am at this time utterly unable.
This spirited refusal greatly served
to establish his reputation with the party who opposed Episcopacy in the Church
of Scotland, at that time. At the commencement of the Reformation, he had his
own difficulties from his education and his delicacy respecting the Kings
authority, in complying with some measures of the Covenanters; but after
reasoning, reading and prayer, as he himself says, he came heartily into their
measures. And being eminently distinguished by his peaceable and healing
temper, his uncommon prudence, and solid judgment, he was much employed in the
public and important affairs of the church from the year 1687.
He was
chosen and appointed, in the year 1638, by his own Presbytery of Irvine, a
member of the very famous and memorable Assembly at Glasgow, which was a
prelude to the civil war, and of which the reader may see a particular account
in Mr Hendersons life. In that
Assembly, Mr Baillie displayed great wisdom, zeal, and learning. He eminently
appeared as one of the most able and zealous advocates for the Presbyterian
cause. And he was peculiarly distinguished, by his strong opposition to Prelacy
and Arminianism. He was also a member of all the following General Assemblies
of the Church of Scotland, until the year 1653, excepting when he attended the
Assembly of Divines at Westminster.
He was also one of those eminent
ministers who attended the army of the Covenanters, as chaplain, in the years 1639, and 1640. He says,
1 furnished to half a dozen of good fellows, muskets and pikes, and to my
boy a broad sword. I carried myself as the fashion was, a sword, and a couple
of Dutch pistols at my saddle; but I promise for the offence of no man,
excepting a robber in the way; for it was our part alone to pray and to preach
for the encouragement of our countrymen, which I did most cheerfully to the
utmost of my power.- Every company had, flying at the captains tent-door,
a brave new colour, stamped with the Scottish arms, and this motto, "For
Christs Crown and Covenant, in golden letters. - He adds: Had
you lent your ear in the morning, or especially at even, and heard in the tents
the sound of some signing psalms, some praying, and some reading Scripture, ye
would have been refreshed. - For myself, I never found my mind in better temper
than it was all that time since I came from home, till my head was again
homeward; for I was as a man who had taken my leave from the world, and was
resolved to die in that service, without return. I found the favour of God
shining upon me, and a sweet, meek, humble, yet strong and vehement spirit
leading me all along; but I was no sooner on my way westward, after the
conclusion of the peace, than my old security returned.
Mr Baillie was
present during the whole treaty with the King, which commenced at Kippon, and
was concluded at London. And as one of the most able and zealous advocates for
the Presbyterian cause, he was, in 1640, sent by the covenanting Lords of
Scotland to London, to draw up an accusation against Laud, Archbishop of
Canterbury. for attempting to obtrude unwelcome innovations upon the Church of
Scotland. While he was in England upon that occasion, he wrote to the
Presbytery of Irvine a large and regular account of the state of public
affairs, and sent them, among other things, a particular Journal of the
proceedings in the trial of the Earl of Strafford.
Not long after his
return to his own country, in the year 1642, he was appointed Joint Professor
of Divinity, with Mr David Dickson, in the University of
Glasgow. And his reputation was become so high, that he had before this
received invitations from the other three Scottish Universities, all of which
he refused. He continued in his Professorship till the Restoration; but his
discharge of the duties of it was interrupted, for a considerable time, by his
residence in England.
As a divine eminently learned, and of approved
orthodoxy, he was, in the year 1643, chosen one of the Commissioners from the
Church of Scotland to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. Though he did not
distinguish himself by speaking much in the debates of that Assembly, he
appears to have been very useful to it. He entirely concurred in the principles
and views of its leading members; and gained great reputation by his writings.
He wrote an account of the state of public af. fairs, and of the proceedings of
the Assembly, while he was at London, which is very interesting. When he took
his leave of the Assembly, the Prolocutor, in the name of the Assembly, gave
him an honourable testimony, and thanks for his labours. He remained
there almost all the time that the Assembly was sitting; and returned to his
own country in the latter end of the year 1646. When that Assembly rose, the
English Parliament made him a handsome present of silver-plate, with an
inscription, intimating that it was a token of their great respect to him, and
to be viewed as an acknowledgement of his good services. It was long carefully
preserved in the house of Carnbrae, in the county of Lanerk, an ancient seat of
the Baillies.
Mr Bailhie was an eminent confident of the Marquis of Argyle,
of the Earls of Cassils, Eglinton, Lauderale and Loudon, of Lord Balmerino, Sir
Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston, and others of the chief managers among the
Covenanters. He thereby obtained the most correct knowledge of the papers and
most important transactions of those times, which he very carefully collected
and preserved. He was exceedingly averse to Episcopacy, but he was not
deficient in loyality. The General Assembly of Scotland had so much confidence
in his attachment to the House of Stuart, that, after the execution o King
Charles I. in 1649, they appointed him one of the embassy from their body to
Charles II. at the Hague, after he was proclaimed in Scotland. Upon that
occasion Mr Baillie addressed the King in a loyal speech, expressing in the
strongest terms his joy and that of his brethren in his succession to the
throne, and their great abhorrence of the murder of his royal father. In his
sentiments on this event, it appears, that the Presbyterian Divines of that
period, both at home and abroad, very generally agreed.
Under
Cromwells usurpation, he joined with the party called Resolutioners, and
wrote several of the papers on that side. He had a strong aversion to
toleration, and availed himself of every opportunity in testifying against it.
He seldom omits any oportunity of shewing his disapprobation of the doctrine of
toleration, either in his Letters, or in his other writings.-After the
Restoration of King Charles II. Mr Baillie, on the 2nd of Jan. 1661, by the
interest of the Earl of Lauderdale, with whom he was a great favourite, was
made Principal of the University of Glasgow, upon the removal of Mr Patrick
Gillespie, who had been patronised by Cromwell. It is said, by several writers,
that Mr Baillie had the offer of a Bishopric, which he absolutely refused. This
is highly probable. He was very highly esteemed by some of the most eminent
Biblical and classical scholars on the Continent in his time; as Spanheim,
Salmasius, Rivet, Leusden, and Constantine L. Empereur.
In his Letters, he
writes as a man of great piety and intellect, and is found inquiring at his
correspondent in Holland for the best and most recent publications on Hebrew,
Syriac, and Arabic, literature, and even on mathematical science; all which
shews at once the great variety and extent of his own attainments, and also his
earnest desire to promote the interests of that academical institution with
which he was intimately connected.
He was an excellent linguist. By his
indefatigable industry, he acquired the knowledge of twelve of or thirteen
languages; and he could write a Latin style, which, in the opinion of learned
men, might well become the Augustan age, and of which his Opus chronoloicum is
a decisive proof. Mr Bailile was averse to funeral sermons, when he was in
London. Speaking of Mr Pyms funeral, he says; Marshall had a most
elioquent and pertinent funeral sermon; which we would not hear; for funeral
sermons we must have away.
He was twice married. By his first
wife, Lilias Fleming, he had several children; and by his second wife,
Principal Strangs daughter, he had one daughter, Margaret, who was
married to Mr Walkingshaw of Barrowfield. Principal Baillie continued most
firmly attached to the Presbyterian government, and in opposition to Prelacy,
to the end of his life. As a proof of this, an eminent historian says; I
have it from an unquestionable hand, one of his scholars, who afterward was his
successor, and waited on him a few weeks before his death, that he died a firm
Presbyterian, and under a rooted aversion to Prelacy in this church. My author
desired Mr Baillies judgment of the courses which this church was so fast
running into. His words to him were; Prelacy is now coming in like a
land-flood; for my share, 1 have considered that controversy as far as I was
able, and after all my inquiry I find it, (Prelacy) and am persuaded that it is
inconsistent with Scripture, contrary to pure and primitive antiquity, and
diametrically opposite to the true interest of those lands.
And
during his last illness, when he was visited by the newly.made Archbishop of
Glasgow, he is said to have addressed himself to him in the following words:
Mr Andrew, I will not call you my Lord. King Charles would have made me
one of these Lords: but I do not find in the New Testament, that Christ has any
Lords in his house. However, he treated the Archbishop very courteously.
The coming in of Prelacy, like a land-flood, brake his heart, and had a strong
tendency to hasten his dissolution. This is evident from two original letters
under his own hand, to the Earl of Lauderale, the one dated, June 16th, 1660,
and the other April 18th, 1661, which are still preserved in Wodrows
History. His health failed him in the Spring of the year in 1662, and he died
in the month of July that same year, aged 63 years.
The Author of the
Appendix to Archbishop Spottiswodes History, speaking of Principal
Baillie, says respecting him; Robert Baillie, Professor of Divinity, and
afterward Principal, a learned and modest man; though he published some very
violent writings, yet these flowed rather from the instigation of other persons
than his own inclinations. He has left a great evidence of his diligence and
learning in his Opus Chronologicum.
And the celebrated Mr Wodrow, in
his History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, has given the
following character of Principal Baillie. Mr Robert Baillie may most
justly be reckoned among the great men of this time, and was an honour to his
country, for his profound and universal learning, his exact and solid
judgement, that vast variety of languages which he understood, to the number of
twelve or thirteen, and his writing a Latin style which might become the
Augustan age. But I need not enlarge on his character; his works do praise him
in the gates.
Mr Baillies Writings are: A Defence of the
Reformation of the Church of Scotland, against Mr Maxwell, Bishop of
Ross.
A Parallel between the Scottish Service-Book, and the Romish
Missal,
Queries anent the Service- Book
The Canterburian
Self-Conviction.
Antidote to Arminanism
A Treatise on Scottish
Episcopacy.
Laudensisim.
Satan the Leader in chief to all who resist the
Reparation of Zion.
A sermon preached from Zech. iii. I to the House of
Commons, at their solemn Fast, Feb. 28th, 1644.
A. sermon from isa. lxiii.
17. before the Lords, July 30th, 1645.
A Dissuasive from the Errors of the
time, especially of the Independents,
A second part of the Dissuasive,
4to. pp. 179, and a long Preface, London, 1647
A Reply to the Modest
Inquirer.
Opus Historicum and Chronologicum; folio, B. 1. pp. 507. B. 2. pp.
15!. with a frontispiece, printed at Amsterdam, 1668. It is written in
classical and elegant Latin, and clearly proves that the author was a man of
deep research and of very extensive knowledge.
Letters, and Journals, in 2
vols. 8vo. vol. i. pp. 436. vol. ii. pp. 462. Edinburgh, 1775. The Journals
contain a History of the General Assembly at Glasgow in ltsR; an Account of the
Earl of Straffords Trial; of the General Assemblies, in 1641, and in
1645.
(From Memoirs of the Westminster
Divines" by James Reid)