Robert Baillie: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Christian leader

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| name = Robert Baillie

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In Baillie's engagement with the theological and liturgical controversies of the mid-Seventeenth Century, Baillie sought to reconcile his strong belief in maintaining [[Kirk]] unity with a firm adherence to a Christian doctrine dictated by the divine 'truth' revealed in Scripture.{{sfn|Campbell|2017|p=137}}

Baillie was born in the [[Saltmarket]], [[Glasgow]], the eldest son of James Baillie, a merchant and [[Burgess (title)|burgess]] of Glasgow, and his wife, Helen Gibson. He was educated at the [[High School of Glasgow]] and the [[University of Glasgow]], graduating with an M.A. in 1620. He was licensed by Archbishop [[James Law]] and became a regent of Philosophy in the University, and tutor to the son of [[Alexander Montgomery, 6th Earl of Eglinton]]. He was ordained to [[Kilwinning]] on 25 May 1631 and admitted burgess of Glasgow 6 July 1631. In 1638 he represented the Presbytery of [[Irvine, Ayrshire|Irvine]] at the Glasgow Assembly, when [[Presbyterianism]] was re-established in Scotland. In 1639 he accompanied Lord General [[Alexander Leslie]] and the Scottish army as chaplain to Lord Eglinton's Regiment during the [[Bishops' Wars]]. In 1640 he was appointed by the Covenanters to draw up an accusation against [[Archbishop Laud]]. On 11 August 1642 he was translated to the Tron Kirk in Glasgow. In the same year, Baillie was made [[Professor of Divinity, Glasgow|Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow]], holding the chair jointly with [[David Dickson (minister)|David Dickson]]. In 1643 he was selected as one of the five Scottish clergymen who were sent to the [[Westminster Assembly]]. In January 1647 he presented the completed [[Westminster Confession of Faith|Confession of Faith]] and a version of the Psalms in metre to the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]].{{sfn|Scott|1928|p=395}}

 

 

==Liturgical controversies==

In the [[James Guthrie (minister)#Resolutioners versus Protestors|Resolutioner versus Protester]] schism in the Church of Scotland during the Cromwellian invasion of Scotland, Baillie sided with the [[Resolutioners]]. His ecclesiology saw the church as an ''ecclesia mixta'', comprising both reprobate and elect. He rejected the Protestors' more exclusive vision of a church of visible saints in which membership (and by extension the ability to hold church office) should be restricted to godly "true" believers. Baillie's concern was to maintain church unity and combat the threat posed by sectarians.{{sfn|Campbell|2017|p=107–111}}

 

 

Baillie's mentor [[Robert Blair (moderator)|Robert Blair]] urged him to disengage from the Resolutioner – Protestor conflict and concentrate on his academic writing. Accordingly, during the 1650s Baillie immersed himself in his teaching at the University of Glasgow and writing treatises on Hebrew and biblical chronology.{{sfn|Campbell|2017|p=53}}

 

==Works==

A complete memoir and a full notice of his writings can be found in [[David Laing (Scottish antiquary)|David Laing]]'s edition of the ''Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie'' (1637–1662), [[Bannatyne Club]], 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1841–1842). Among his works are ''Ladensium αὐτοκατάκρισις'', an answer to ''Lysimachus Nicanor'' by [[John Corbet (theologian)|John Corbet]] in the form of an attack on [[William Laud|Laud]] and his system, in reply to a publication which charged the [[Covenanter]]s with [[Jesuits|Jesuitry]]; ''[[Anabaptist|Anabaptism]], the true Fountain of Independency, Brownisme, Antinomy, Familisme, etc.'', a sermon [in which he criticises the rise of the early Baptist churches in England such as those led by [[Thomas Lambe]]]; ''An Historical Vindication of the Government of the Church of Scotland''; ''The Life of William (Laud) now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Examined'' (London, 1643); ''A Parallel of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, the Breviary, the Ceremonial and other Romish Rituals'' (London, 1661).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=220}}

 

 

==Bibliography==

*{{lang|enm|A Parallel or Brief e Comparison of the Liturgie with the Masse-Book, the Breviarie, the Ceremoniall, and other Bomish Ritualls}} (London, 1641);

*''An Antidote against Arminianisme'' (London, 1641);

*''A Review of Dr Bramble [Branihall], late Bishop of Londonderry, his Faire Warning against the Scotes Disciplin'' (Delf, 1649);

*''Appendix Practica ad Joannis Buxtorfii Epitomen Grammaticae Hebraeae'' [anon.] (Edinburgh, 1653);

*''The Dissuasive from the Errours of the i Time, vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr Cotton and Mr Tombes'' (London, 1655);

*''Operis Historei et Chronologei Libri Duo'' (Amsterdam, 1663);

*''Letters and Journals, 1637–1662'', 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1775) [edited by David Laing], 3 vols. (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1841-2).

*MSS. of Baillie are preserved in Glasgow and Edinburgh University Libraries, and in the National Library of Scotland.{{sfn|Scott|1928|p=395-396}}

 

==References==

*{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Henry Martin Beckwith |title=The divinity principals in the University of Glasgow |date=1917 |publisher=J. Maclehose |location=Glasgow |pages=[https://archive.org/details/divinityprincipa00reidrich/page/1 1]–82 |url=https://archive.org/details/divinityprincipa00reidrich}}

*{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Henry Martin Beckwith |title=The divinity professors in the University of Glasgow, 1640-1903 |date=1923 |publisher=Maclehose, Jackson and Co.|location=Glasgow |pages=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b463083&view=2up&seq=90&skin=2021 75]–126 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001594295}}{{PD-notice}}

*{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Hew |title=Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation |date=1928 |publisher=Oliver and Boyd |location=Edinburgh |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc07scot/page/395 395]–396 |volume=7 |url=https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc07scot |access-date=8 July 2019}}{{PD-notice}}

*{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Thomas |title=Select memoirs of the lives, labours, and sufferings of those pious and learned English and Scottish divines : who greatly distinguished themselves in promoting the Reformation from popery, in translating the Bible, and in promulgating its salutary doctrines by their numerous evangelical writings, and who ultimately crowned the venerable edifice with the celebrated Westminster Confession of Faith |date=1827 |publisher=D. Mackenzie |location=Glasgow |pages=[https://archive.org/details/selectmel00smit/page/623 623]–629 |url=https://archive.org/details/selectmel00smit |access-date=20 July 2019}}

*{{cite ODNB |first=David |last=Stevenson |title=Baillie, Robert |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1067}}

{{refend}}

 

==External links==

*{{prdl|125}}

*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Baillie}}

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[[Category:1602 births]]

[[Category:1662 deaths]]

[[Category:Covenanters]]

[[Category:Scottish Commissioners at the Westminster Assembly]]