John Forbes (died 1648)

John Forbes of Corse (2 May 1593 – 29 April 1648) was a Scottish minister and theologian, one of the Aberdeen doctors, noted for his eirenic approach in church polity and opposition to the National Covenant.

He was the second son of Patrick Forbes of Corse Castle, bishop of Aberdeen, by his marriage to Lucretia, a daughter of David Spens of Wormiston, Fife. He entered King's College, Aberdeen, in 1607. In 1612 he visited his exiled uncle John Forbes at Middelburg, and then went to the university of Heidelberg. There he studied theology under David Pareus. In 1615 he moved to Sedan, and continued his studies under his kinsman Andrew Melville. After some time at other universities, he was ordained at Middelburg in April 1619, by his uncle John Forbes and other presbyters.

He married about this time a Middelburg lady, Soete Roosboom, and returned the same year to Aberdeen, of which his father was by then bishop. In 1620 he was appointed by the synod professor of divinity in King's College. His first publication, Irenicum Amatoribus Veritatis et Pacis in Ecclesia Scoticana, Aberdeen, 1629, was commended by James Ussher. In this work he defended with moderation the lawfulness of episcopacy, and of the innovations in worship allowed by the synod of Perth in 1618.

On his father's death in 1635 he succeeded to the estate of Corse, his elder brother having predeceased him. He contributed a Latin sermon, a Dissertatio de Visione Beatifica, and Latin verses to the bishop's 'Funerals,' and probably supervised the whole collection. When at Aberdeen he sought recreation in the game of golf. In February 1637 he took some part in furthering John Durie's plans for uniting the reformed and Lutheran churches. Forbes, though he deplored Charles I's measures for remodelling the church of Scotland, considered the National Covenant an unlawful bond, and in April 1638 he published a tract against it entitled A Peaceable Warning to the Subjects in Scotland.

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