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FORRET, THOMAS,
one of the early martyrs for the reformed doctrines in Scotland, was vicar
of Dollar, and belonged to the house of Forret of Forret in Fife. The name
in our histories is commonly but erroneously assumed to have been Forrest.
The estate of Forret is in the parish of Logie in the north of Fife, and
belonged to a family of the same name since the reign of William the Lion
till the seventeenth century, when it came into the possession of Sir
David Balfour, (fourth son of Sir Michael Balfour of Denmylne,) who, on
being appointed a lord of session in 1674, took the judicial title of Lord
Forret. The estate now belongs to a family of the name of Mackenzie. In
1466 John Forret of Forret was one of the assize for clearing the marches
of the abbot of Dunfermline, and in the General Assembly which met at
Edinburgh on 6th March 1573, the bishop of St. Andrews was
complained upon for permitting one Sir John Forret, a popish priest, to
administer the sacrament of baptism at Swinton in the Merse. The father of
the subject of this notice had been master stabler to James the Fourth.
After acquiring the rudiments of grammar in his native country, he was
sent to the Continent by the kindness of a rich lady, and completed his
education at Cologne. One his return to Scotland he was admitted a canon
regular in the monastery of St. Colm’s Inch. A dispute having arisen
between the abbot and the canons, respecting the allowance due to them,
the latter got the book of foundation to examine into their rights. The
abbot, with the view of obtaining possession of this book, gave them in
exchange for it a volume of the works of Augustine, which happened to be
in the monastery. This volume passing into the hands of Forret, was the
fortunate means of enlightening his mind. “Oh! Happy and blessed was that
book to me,” did he often say afterwards, “by which I came to the
knowledge of the truth.” He now applied himself to the reading of the
Scriptures, and succeeded in converting a number of the young canons. “But
the old bottles,” he used to say, meaning the older members of the order,
“would not receive the new wine.” The abbot frequently advised him to keep
his mind to himself, otherwise he would incur punishment. “I thank you, my
lord,” was his reply, “you are a friend to my body, but not to my soul.”
Forret was
subsequently admitted to the vicarage of Dollar, in the shire of
Clackmannan, in which situation his diligence in instructing his
parishioners, and his benevolence in freeing them from oppressive
exactions, rendered him extremely obnoxious to the clergy. When the agents
of the pope came into his bounds, to sell indulgences, he thus addressed
his people: “Parishioners, I am bound to speak the truth to you; this is
but to deceive you. There is no pardon for our sins that can come to us
either from the pope of any other, but only by the blood of Christ.” It
was Forret’s custom to rise at six o’clock in the morning, and study till
noon. He daily committed three chapters of the Bible to memory, and
repeated them to his servant at night. He also composed a short catechism,
probably intended for the use of his own people. These facts were
communicated by his servant, Andrew Kirkie, in a letter to Mr. John
Davidson, minister of Prestonpans, and inserted by him in his Account of
the Scottish Martyrs, from which, as the book itself is now lost, they
have been transmitted to us in Calderwood’s History.
Having attracted
the notice and hostility of his clerical superiors, he was successively
summoned before the bishops of Dunkeld and St. Andrews. The former of
these, George Crichton, a brother of Crichton of Naunchton, was, according
to Keith, “a man nobly disposed, very hospitable, and a magnificent
housekeeper, but in matters of religion not much skilled.” To him Forret
was accused as “an heretic, and one that showed the mysteries of the
Scriptures to the vulgar people in their own language, so as to make the
clergy destatable in their sight.” On being called before him, the bishop,
addressing him in a tone of kindness, said – “My dear Dean Thomas, I am
informed that you preach the epistle or gospel every Sunday, and that you
take not the cow, nor the uppermost cloth from your parishioners, which is
very prejudicial to the churchmen; and, therefore, I would you took your
cow, and your uppermost cloth, as other churchmen do, or else it is too
much to preach every Sunday; for, in so doing, you may make the people
think that we should preach likewise. But it is enough for you,
when you find any good epistle, or any good gospel, that setteth forth the
liberty of the holy church, to preach that, and let the rest be.” To this
Forret replied, “Truly, my lord, I have read the New Testament and the
Old, and all the epistles and gospels, and among them all I could never
find an evil epistle, or an evil gospel; but if your lordship will show me
the good epistle, and the good gospel, and the evil epistle, and the evil
gospel, then I shall preach the good, and omit the evil.” The bishop
answered, “I thank God that I never knew what the Old and New Testament
was; therefore, Dean Thomas, I will know nothing but my portuise and
pontifical. Go your way, and let be all these fantasies, for if you
persevere in these erroneous opinions, you will repent when you may not
amend it.” Forret said, “I trust my cause is just in the presence of God,
and therefore I heed not much what may follow thereupon;” after which he
returned to his parish. We need not be surprised at Bishop Crichton’s
ignorance of the Bible, nor at his open avowal of it, when it is
remembered that the Romish clergy in Scotland of that period firmly
believed that the Greek language was an invention of the Reformers, for
the purpose of upholding their heresies, and perplexing the orthodox!
Forret was soon
after summoned to appear before Archbishop James Bethune and a convocation
of bishops held at Edinburgh, and, after a short examination, was
sentenced to be burnt as a heretic. Four other persons, named Keilor,
Beveredge, Simson, and Forrester, the first two friars, the third a
secular priest, and the fourth a gentleman of respectability, were
condemned to suffer along with him. The whole five were accordingly
consumed in one fire on the Castlehill at Edinburgh, February 28, 1538. |
