FORBES, ALEXANDER PENROSE: Bishop of Brechin; b. at Edinburgh June 6, 1817; d. at Dundee (37 m. n.n.e. of Edinburgh) Oct. 8, 1875. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, Haileybury College, and Brasenose College, Oxford (B.A., 1844; M.A., 1846; D.C.L., 1848), where he came strongly under the influence of the Oxford movement. Before entering Oxford he was in the civil service in India. He was curate at Aston Rowant, near Oxford, 1844, and at St. Thomas', Oxford, 1845. In 1848 he became the incumbent of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, in May, 1847, vicar of St. Saviour's, Leeds, a church built expressly to further the tractarian doctrine. Later in the same year he was appointed bishop of Brechin. He removed the headquarters of the bishopric to Dundee and added to his duties as bishop those of vicar of St. Paul's,- Dundee. For inculcating the doctrine of the ~ real presence in his primary charge to the clergy, Aug. 5, 1857, he was formally tried for heresy. He was finally acquitted with an admonition and censure in- Mar., 1860. Bishop Forbes published numerous sermons, commentaries, translations, etc.; his principal works are, A Short Explanation of the Nicene Creed (Oxford, 1852; 2d ed., enlarged, 1866), a handbook of dogmatic theology; An Explanation of the Thirty-Nine Articles (2 vole-., 1887-68); and Kalendars of Scottish Saints (Edinburgh, 1872).

Bibliography: D. J. Mackey, Bishop Forbes, a Memoir, London, 1888; S. M. F. Slkene]; Meter of Alexander Bishop of BrwAin, ib. 1876.

FORBES, JOHN: Scotch theologian; b. May 2, 1593; d. at Corse (19 m. w. of Dumfries), Kirkcudbrightshire, Apr. 29, 1648. He studied at King's College (Aberdeen), and at Heidelberg, Sddan, and other Continental universities, and in 1619 was ordained at Middelburg, returning in the same year to Aberdeen, where his father was bishop. In 1620 he was appointed professor of divinity is King's College, Aberdeen, where he was conapicuous for his defense of episcopacy. He succeeded to his father's estate of Corse in 1635, and two years later was an advocate of the project to unite the Reformed and Lutheran churches. In 1638, however, he refused to sign the National Covenant, and despite the protests of the synod was ejected from his professorship by the General Assembly

He accepted the Presbyterian form of government, but the Solemn League and Covenant, sanctioned in 1643, forced him to leave Scotland, and from 1644 until 1648 he resided in Holland. He then returned to his native country, and spent the remainder of his life at Cores. Forbes, who was irenic in temperament, was the author of Irenicum amatort'bus veritatis et paGia in Ecclesia Scoticana (Aberdeen, 1629) and Irratitutianes historico-theodogicce de dodrina Christians (Amsterdam, 1845), as well as of a number of minor writings. His complete Latin works, including several posthumous treatises and a Latin translation of his diary, were edited by G. Garden (2 vols., Amsterdam, 1702-03).

Bibliography: >A Life by Dr. Garden was prefixed to the Works, ut sup.; DNB, xix. 402-404.