Robert Baillie (Or Bailey)
Robert Baillie (Or Bailey) [1]
Baillie (Or Bailey), Robert
a Scotch theologian, was born at Glasgow, April 30, 1602, and educated at the university of that town. During the rebellion he was an active opponent of Episcopacy, and he obtained much credit for his refusal in 1C37 to preach before the General Assembly in favor of the liturgy and canons, which the king was desirous to introduce into Scotland. In 1638 he was appointed a member of the assembly held at Glasgow, where the Covenant was agreed upon, and in 1640 he was deputed to London to carry the accusations of the lords of the covenant against Laud. In 1642 he was appointed professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow. In 1643 he was sent as one of the commissaries of the Scotch Presbyterians to the assembly at Westminster. He execrated the murder of the king, and denounced it as a horrible parricide, and was always faithful to the house of Stuart. Charles II would have made him bishop, but, true to his principles, Baillie refused this. He was said to know twelve or thirteen languages, and wrote very pure Latin. In 1661 he was appointed principal of the university. In 1662 he died. Of Baillie's works, the most important are, Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time (4to, Lond. 1645): — Anabaptism, the true Fountain of Independency, Brownism, Antinomy, Familism, etc. (a second part of the Dissuasive, 4to, Lond. 1647): — Appendix Practica ad Joannis Buxtorfii Epitomen Grammaticae Hebroeae (8vo, Edinb. 1653):Operis Historici et Chronologici Libri Duo (fol. Amst. 1663, and Basil, 1669). He also published several sermons and other short tracts. But of all the produce of his pen, by far the most interesting part consists of his Letters, written to various friends, which throw much light on the history of the times. A complete edition was produced under the care of David Laing, Esq. (in 3 vols. crown 8vo, Edinb. 1841-42), with annotations and a life of Baillie. See Hetherington, Church of Scotland, 2:135.
