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David Fergusson or Ferguson (died 1598) was a Scottish reformer. ==Life== His date of birth is debated,〔Ferguson is stated by John Spottiswoode to have been born about 1533, but Robert Wodrow supposes the date to have been ten or twenty years earlier, and David Laing thinks it could not have been later than 1525.〕 and he is reputed to have been a native of Dundee.〔The only evidence for this is an entry in the treasurer's accounts of Scotland 7 July 1558 of a summons to him and others within the borough of Dundee to appear before the justices at the Tolbooth on 28 July for disputing upon erroneous opinions and eating flesh during Lent.〕 Robert Wodrow states that he was by trade a glover, but gave up business and went to school, in order to fit himself for the duties of a preacher or expounder among the reformers.〔Analecta, i. 120〕 The Scottish doctor of the Sorbonne James Laing sneered at him as an ignorant cobbler (sutor) and glover.〔De Vitâ Hæreticorum, p. 36〕 He was well acquainted both with Latin and Greek, and was among the earliest of the preachers of the reformed doctrines. When the first appointment was made of ministers or superintendents for places in Scotland, he was selected to go to Dunfermline; in 1567 Rosyth was placed under his care, but in 1574 it was excluded, while Cumnock and Beith were added. Ferguson was chosen moderator of the general assembly which met at Edinburgh on 6 March 1573, and also of that which met on 24 Oct. 1578. He usually had a place on important commissions, and for many years was chosen one of the assessors to the moderator to prepare matters for the assembly. He was one of the ministers who waited on James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton before his execution, 2 June 1581. In 1582 he was appointed by the assembly a commissioner for the West of Fife, to superintend the establishment of kirks and placing of ministers. Ferguson formed one of a deputation to wait on James VI in 1583 to discharge the duty of admonishing him ‘to beware of innovations in court’, to check reports before credit was given to them, and remind him of the affair of the escaped Jesuit, William Holt. He jocularly told the king that Fergus was the first king of Scotland, and that he was Fergus-son; but recognising that King James had the possession and was an honest man he would give him his right. In the discussion warmth was displayed by some of the deputies, but Ferguson succeeded in giving a new turn to the topics at critical points, the result being that as they took their leave ‘the king laid his hands upon every one of them.’ In August of the same year Ferguson and six other ministers were cited by the king to attend a convention at St Andrews to answer for certain proceedings of the assembly. On 12 May 1596, on the renewal of the covenant by the synod of Fife at Dunfermline, Ferguson gave an address, with reminiscences of his experiences of the early reform period. At a meeting of the synod of Fife, held at Cupar in February 1598, in regard to a proposal to give ministers a vote in parliament, Ferguson, the eldest minister at that time in Scotland, after relating pat difficulties of the church in contending against efforts to introduce episcopacy, opposed the proposal, which he compared to the ‘busking up of the brave horse’ for the overthrow of Troy. He died 13 August 1598. He is buried on the west side of the north entrance path to Dunfermline Abbey. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Ferguson (reformer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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