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S.-CHARLES ix., OLATJS, FORBES, t&gt;. KENICIUS. 271
his Calvinist chaplain, was engaged in the early days of
Olaus Martini. I refer, of course, to the disputation held
at Upsala, i;th November, 1608, in which the Scotsman,
John Forbes, was the champion. He was a well-known
man of the family of the Lairds of Corse, and he owed his
invitation to Sweden probably to his brother Arthur, who
was a distinguished officer in the Swedish service in this
and the next reign, and afterwards became Earl of Granard
in Ireland. John Forbes had been moderator of the Aber
deen Assembly of July, 1605, and had, in consequence,
been imprisoned and exiled by King James. Since then
he had been pastor of an English and Scotch congregation
at Middleburg and Delft. He was met at Upsala by the
archbishop and other professors in the presence of some
lords of the council, and a great multitude of students. As
he entered the hall he might have conjectured the sort of
reception he would encounter, from a Latin epigram fas
tened to the lecture notice-board, in which his name was
punningly interpreted as "sheep-biter."
20
For a whole day he contended against these odds with all
the courage of his family, his nation and his faith. He
asserted that he did not come to convert Sweden, but to
explain and defend the religion of his own country. But
he proclaimed the Calvinistic doctrine of absolute election
and reprobation without flinching, to the great scandal of
his audience. The archbishop ended:
"
Irenaeus records
that the old Germans closed their ears when they heard
abuse of God. So we too confess that our ears are tired out
20
See Baaz, lib. V., cc. 16 and 17. The epigram was (p.
624) :
Forbesius praesto est : ne mordeat ille cavete
Quos Christus sancta morte redemit oves.
Forbesius nostra nam lingua denotat ilium,
Balantem mordens qui vorat ore gregem.
I
presume that the Swedish word intended is "far-bitare,"
"
sheep-biter/ Ch. 16 contains the disputation, ch. 17 Forbes
theses. See also Th. Norlin :
Johannes Rudbeckius, Bihang,
pp. 56 foil., Upsala, 1860.
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