John Corbet (1603–1641) was a Scottish minister of
Bonhill
Bonhill ( sco, B'nill; gd, Both an Uillt) is a town in the Vale of Leven area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is sited on the Eastern bank of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, on the opposite bank from the larger town of Alexa ...
and anti-presbyterian author.
Life
The son of William Corbet, a 'portioner' of Glasgow, John was born sometime around 1603. He graduated at the
University of Glasgow
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
in 1623, and after acting for some time as schoolmaster at
Renfrew
Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...
was ordained minister of Bonhill in 1637. According to
Robert Baillie
Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters. after some "rashness" of the presbytery of
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
he was made subject to the assembly's declaration, but instead fled to Ireland.'
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, ...
in his ''Life of Bedell'' states that the problem was the controversial book ''Lysimachus Nicanor'' (1640), but the chronology is that Corbet was already deposed by the assembly 16 April 1639.
Corbet had been recommended to
Archibald Adair,
bishop of Killala and Achonry
The Bishop of Killala and Achonry was the Ordinary of the Church of Ireland diocese of Killala and Achonry in the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuam. The diocese comprised part of Counties Mayo and Sligo in Ireland.
The Episcopal see was a union o ...
, for a living in his gift, and, according to Baillie, the bishop declined to patronise him. He obtained the living of
Killaban and
Ballintubride in 1640, but during the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...
he was killed.
Works
The full title of ''Lysimachus Nicanor'' is 'The Epistle Congratulatorie of Lysimachus Nicanor of the Societie of Jesu to the Covenanters in Scotland, wherein is paralleled our Sweet Harmony and Correspondence in Doctrine and Practice.' By Baillie it was erroneously ascribed to
Henry Leslie. It was answered by Baillie in his 'Ladensium Aὐτοκατάκρισις, the Canterbvrians self-conviction, &c., with a postscript to the personat Jesuite Lysimachus Nicanor,' Amsterdam, 1640; and a metrical answer to it, ascribed to
Sir William Mure, was also published in the same year under the title 'A Covnter Bvff to Lysimachus Nicanor, calling himself a Jesuite.' Previous to the appearance of ''Lysimachus Nicanor'', Corbet had published at Dublin in 1639 ''The Ungirding of the Scottish Armour, or an Answer to the Informations for Defensive Armes against the King's Majestie which were drawn up at Edinburg by the common help and industrie of the three Tables of the rigid Covenanters'', described by Baillie as 'one of the most venomous and bitter pamphlets against us all that could come from the hand of our most furious and enraged enemy.'
[It has also been said that a different John Corbet wrote this work: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/corbet.htm]
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbet, John
17th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
1603 births
1641 deaths
People from Bonhill