ERSKINE, REV. EBENEZER, a
celebrated divine, and founder of the secession church in Scotland, was son
to the Rev. Henry Erskine, who was settled minister at Cornhill, in
Northumberland, about the year 1649; whence he was ejected by the
Bartholomew act in the year 1662, and, after suffering many hardships for
his attachment to the cause of presbytery, was, shortly after the
revolution, 1688, settled pastor of the parish of Chirnside, Berwickshire,
where he finished his course, in the month of August, 1696, in the
seventy-second year of his age. The Rev. Henry Erskine was of the ancient
family of Shielfield, in the Merse, descended from the noble family of Marr,
and Ebenezer was one of his younger sons by his second wife, Margaret Halcro,
a native of Orkney, the founder of whose family was Halcro, prince of
Denmark, and whose great-grandmother was the lady Barbara Stuart, daughter
to Robert earl of Orkney, son to James V. of Scotland; so that his parentage
was, in every respect, what the world calls highly respectable. The place of
his birth has been variously stated. One account says it was the village of
Dryburgh, where the house occupied by his father is still pointed out, and
has been carefully preserved, as a relic of the family; another says it was
the Bass, where his father was at the time a prisoner for nonconformity. Be
the place of his birth as it may, the date has been ascertained to
have been the 22nd day of June, 1680; and the name Ebenezer, "a stone of
assistance," was given him by his pious parents in testimony of their
gratitude for that goodness and mercy with which, amidst all their
persecutions, they had been unceasingly preserved. Of his early youth
nothing particular has been recorded. The elements of literature he received
at Chirnside, under the immediate superintendence of his father, after which
he went through a regular course of study at the university of Edinburgh.
During the most part of the time that he was a student, he acted as tutor
and chaplain to the earl of Rothes, at Leslie-house, within the presbytery
of Kirkaldy, by which court he was taken upon trials, and licensed to preach
the gospel in the year 1702.
The abilities and the excellent
character of Mr Erskine soon brought him into notice; and in the month of May,
1703, he received a unanimous call to the parish of Portmoak, to the pastoral
care of which he was ordained in the month of September following. In this
pleasantly sequestered situation, devoting himself wholly to the duties of his
office, he laid the foundation of that excellence for which, in his after-life,
he was so remarkably distinguished. Anxious to attain accurate and extensive
views of divine truth, he spent a great proportion of his time in the study of
the scriptures, along with some of the most eminent expositors, Turretine,
Witsius, Owen, &c.; embracing, besides, every opportunity of conversing on
theological subjects with persons of intelligence and piety. By these means he
soon came to great clearness both of conception and expression of the leading
truths of the gospel, of which, at first, like many other pious ministers of the
church of Scotland at that period, his views were clouded with no inconsiderable
portion of legalism. During the year succeeding his settlement, he was united in
marriage to Alison Turpie, a young woman of more than ordinary talents, and of
undoubted piety. To the experience of this excellent woman he was accustomed to
acknowledge to his friends, that he was indebted for much of that accuracy of
view by which he was so greatly distinguished, and to which much of that success
which attended his ministry is, doubtless, to be ascribed; and, more especially,
he used to mention a confidential conversation, on the subject of their
religious experiences, between her and his brother Ralph, which he accidentally
overheard from the window of his study, which overlooked the bower in the
garden, where they were sitting, and unconscious of any person overhearing them.
Struck with the simplicity of their views, and the extent of their attainments,
as so very superior to his own, he was led to a more close examination of the
vital principle of Christianity, which issued in a measure of light and a degree
of comfort to which he had previously been a stranger. In the discharge of his
ministerial duties, he had always been most exemplary. Besides the usual
services of the Sabbath, he had, as was a very general practice in the church of
Scotland at that period, a weekly lecture on the Thursdays; but now his
diligence seemed to be doubled, and his object much more pointedly to preach
Christ in his person, offices, and grace, as at once wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption to all who truly receive and rest upon him. Even
in his external manners there appeared, from this time forward, a great and
important improvement. In public speaking he had felt considerable
embarrassment, and in venturing to change his attitude was in danger of losing
his ideas; but now he was at once master of his mind, his voice, and his
gestures, and by a manner most dignified and engaging, as well as by the weight
and the importance of his matter, commanded deep and reverential attention. At
the same time that Mr Erskine was thus attentive to his public appearances, he
was equally so to those duties of a more private kind, which are no less
important for promoting the growth of piety and genuine holiness among a people,
but which, having less of the pomp of external circumstance to recommend their
exercise, are more apt to be sometimes overlooked. In the duties of public
catechising and exhorting from house to house, as well as in visiting the sick,
he was most indefatigable. In catechising he generally brought forward the
subject of his discourses, that by the repetition of them he might make the more
lasting impression on the manners and hearts of his people. For the purposes of
necessary recreation he was accustomed to perambulate the whole bounds of his
parish, making frequent calls at the houses of his parishioners, partaking of
their humble meals, and talking over their every day affairs, without any thing
like ceremony. By this means he became intimately acquainted with the tempers
and the characters of all his hearers, and was able most effectively to
administer the word of instruction, correction, encouragement, or reproof, as
the circumstances of the case might require. Though Mr Erskine was thus free and
familiar with his people on ordinary and every day occasions, he was perfectly
aware of the necessity of maintaining true ministerial dignity and deportment;
and when he appeared among them in the way of performing official duty, was
careful to preserve that serious and commanding demeanour which a situation so
important, and services so solemn, naturally tend to inspire. When visiting
ministerially, it was his custom to enter every habitation with the same gravity
with which he entered the pulpit, pronouncing the salutation, "Peace be to this
house;" after which he examined all the members of the family, tendered to each
such exhortations as their circumstances seemed to require, concluded with
prayer, fervent, particular, and affectionate. In visiting the sick,
he studied the same serious solemnity, and few had the gift of more effectually
speaking to the comfort of the dejected christian, or of pointing out the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world, to the sinner alarmed with a sense
of guilt and the view of the approaching judgment.
We cannot forbear mentioning
another part of his ministerial conduct, in which it were to be wished that he
were more imitated. Not satisfied with addressing to the children of his charge
frequent admonitions from the pulpit, and conversing with them in their fathers’
houses, he regularly superintended their instruction in the parish school, where
it was his practice to visit every Saturday to hear them repeat the catechism,
to tender them suitable advice, and affectionately to pray with them. When such
was his care of the children, the reader will scarcely need to be told that he
was watchful over the conduct of their teachers; and for the preservation of
order and good government in his parish, he took care to have in every corner of
it a sufficient number of active and intelligent ruling elders, an order of men
of divine appointment, and fitted for preserving and promoting the public morals
beyond any other that have yet been thought upon, but in subsequent times,
especially in the established church, till of late years, greatly neglected. The
effect of all this diligence in the discharge of his pastoral duties, was a
general attention to the interests of religion among his people, all of whom
seemed to regard their pastor with the strongest degree of respect and
confidence. Not only was the church crowded on Sabbaths, but even on the
Thursdays, and his diets of examination drew together large audiences. Prayer
meetings were also established in every part of his parish, for the management
of which, he drew up a set of rules, and he encouraged them by his presence,
visiting them in rotation as often as his other avocations would admit. Nor was
it this external regard to the practice of piety alone that distinguished them,
the triumphant deaths of many of them bore the still more decisive testimony to
the good seed sown among them having been watered by the dews of Divine
influence. It has been affirmed, that the parish of Portmoak was long after
distinguished above all the parishes around it for the attainments of the people
in religious knowledge, and for their marked attention to the rules of godliness
and honesty.
But it was not to his parish
alone that Mr Erskine’s labours were made a blessing. Serious christians from
all quarters of the country, attracted by the celebrity of his character, were
eager to enjoy occasionally the benefits of his ministry, and on sacramental
occasions he had frequently attendants from the distance of sixty or seventy
miles. So great was the concourse of people on these occasions, that it was
necessary to form two separate assemblies besides that which met in the church,
for the proper business of the day; and so remarkable was the success attending
the word, that many eminent christians on their death-beds spoke of Portmoak as
a Bethel where they had enjoyed renewed manifestations of God’s love, and the
inviolability of his covenant. In the midst of his labours, on the death of his
dear brother Mr Macgill of Kinross, an attempt was made to remove Mr Erskine
from Portmoak to that burgh. Though the call, however, was unanimous and urgent,
the affectionate efforts of the people of Portmoak were successful in preventing
the desired translation. Shortly after this, Mr Erskine received an equally
unanimous call to the parish of Kirkaldy, which he also refused, but a third
minister being wanted at Stirling, the Rev. Mr Alexander Hamilton, with the
whole population, gave him a pressing and unanimous call, of which, after having
maturely deliberated on the circumstances attending it, he felt it his duty to
accept. He was accordingly, with the concurrence of the courts, translated to
Stirling, in the autumn of the year 1731, having discharged the pastoral office
in Portmoak for twenty-eight years. The farewell sermon which he preached at
Portmoak, from Acts xx. 22, "And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there," had in it
something particularly ominous, and as such seems to have been received by the
people. "This," says an eye and ear witness of the scene, "was a sorrowful day
to both minister and people. The retrospect of twenty-eight years of great
felicity which were for ever gone, and the uncertainty of what might follow,
bathed their faces with tears, and awoke the voice of mourning throughout the
congregation, for the loss of a pastor, the constant object of whose ministry
was to recommend to their souls the exalted Redeemer in his person, offices, and
grace, who had laboured to rouse the inconsiderate to repentance and serious
concern, and who had not failed, when religious impressions took place, to
preserve and promote them with unwearied diligence. So much was the minister
himself affected, that it was with difficulty he could proceed till he reached
the end of the doctrinal part of his discourse, when he was obliged to pause,
and, overcome with grief, concluded with these words, "My friends, I find that
neither you nor I can bear the application of this subject." So strong was the
affection of the people of Portmoak to Mr Erskine, that several individuals
removed to Stirling along with him, that they might still enjoy the benefit of
his ministry; he was also in the habit of visiting them and preaching to them
occasionally, till, through the melancholy state of matters in the church, the
pulpits of all the parishes in Scotland were shut against him.
In the new and enlarged sphere of
action which Mr Erskine now occupied, he seemed to exert even more than his
usual ability. His labours here met with singular acceptance, and appeared to be
as singularly blessed; when an attempt was made, certainly little anticipated by
his friends, and perhaps as little by himself, to paralyse his efforts, to
narrow the sphere of his influence, and to circumscribe his expression of
thought and feeling; an expression which had long been painful and was now
thought to be dangerous to the party that had long been dominant in the Scottish
church, and were charged with corrupting her doctrines and labouring to make a
sacrifice of her liberties at the shrine of civil authority. That they were
guilty of the first of these charges was alleged to be proved beyond the
possibility of contradiction, by their conduct towards the presbytery of
Auchterarder, with regard to what has since been denominated the Auchterarder
creed, so far back as the year 1717; by their conduct towards the twelve
brethren, known by the name of "Marrow men," along with their acts against the
doctrines of the book entitled, "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," in the years
1720 and 1721; and, more recently still, by the leniency of their dealings with
professor John Simpson of Glasgow, who, though found to have, in his prelections
to the divinity students, taught a system of Deism rather than christian
theology, met with no higher censure than simple suspension. The students, it
was insisted, could be equally well instructed from their tamely submitting to
take the abjuration oath, and to the re-imposition of lay patronages,—contrary
to the act of union, by which the Scottish church was solemnly guaranteed in all
her liberties and immunities so long as that treaty should be in existence. That
this grinding yoke had been imposed upon her in an illegal and despotic manner
by the tory ministry of the latter years of queen Anne was not denied; but it
was contended, that those powers which the church still possessed, and which she
could still legally employ, had never been called into action, but that patrons
had been encouraged to make their sacrilegious encroachments upon the rights of
the christian people even beyond what they appeared of themselves willing to
do,—while the cause of the people was by the church trampled upon, and their
complaints totally disregarded. In the contests occasioned by these different
questions, Mr Erskine had been early engaged. He had refused the oath of
abjuration, and it was owing to a charge preferred against him by the Rev. Mr
Anderson of St Andrews, before the commission of the general assembly, for
having spoken against such as had taken it, that his first printed sermon,
"God’s little remnant keeping their garments clean," was, along with some
others, given to the public in the year 1725, many years after it had been
preached. In the defence of the doctrine of the Marrow of Modern Divinity, he
had a principal hand in the representation and petition presented to the
assembly on the subject, May the 11th, 1721; which, though originally composed
by Mr Boston, was revised and perfected by him. He also drew up the original
draught of the answers to the twelve queries that were put to the twelve
brethren, which was afterwards perfected by Mr Gabriel Wilson of Maxton, one of
the most luminous pieces of theology to be found in any language. Along with his
brethren, for his share in this good work, he was by the general assembly
solemnly rebuked and admonished, and was along with them reviled in many
scurrilous publications of the day, as a man of wild antinomian principles, an
innovator in religion, an impugner of the Confession of Faith and Catechisms, an
enemy to Christian morality, a troubler of Israel, and puffed up with vanity on
the pride and arrogancy of his heart, anxious to be exalted above his brethren.
These charitable assumptions found their way even into the pulpits, and
frequently figured in Synod sermons and other public discourses. Owing to the
vehemence of Principal Haddow of St Andrews, who, from personal pique at Mr Hogg
of Carnock, the original publisher of the Marrow in Scotland, took the lead in
impugning the doctrines of that book, Mr Ebenezer Erskine and his four
representing brethren in that quarter, James Hogg, James Bathgate, James Wardlaw,
and Ralph Erskine, were treated with marked severity. At several meetings of
Synod they were openly accused and subjected to the most inquisitorial
examinations. Attempts were also repeatedly made to compel them to sign anew the
Confession of Faith, not as it was originally received by the church of Scotland
in the year 1647, but as it was explained by the obnoxious act of 1722. These
attempts however, had utterly failed, and the publication of so many of Mr
Erskine’s sermons had not only refuted the foolish calumnies that had been so
industriously set afloat, but had prodigiously increased his reputation and his
general usefulness. The same year in which Mr Erskine was removed to Stirling, a
paper was given in to the general assembly, complaining of the violent
settlements that were so generally taking place throughout the country, which
was not so much as allowed a hearing. This induced upwards of fifty-two
ministers, of whom the subject of this memoir was one, to draw up at large a
representation of the almost innumerable evils under which the church of
Scotland was groaning, and which threatened to subvert her very foundations. To
prevent all objections on the formality of this representation, it was carefully
signed and respectfully presented, according to the order pointed out in such
cases; but neither could this obtain so much as a hearing. So far was the
assembly from being in the least degree affected with the mournful state of the
church, and listening to the groans of an afflicted but submissive people, that
they sustained the settlement of Mr Stark at Kinross, one of the most palpable
intrusions ever made upon a christian congregation, and they enjoined the
presbytery who had refused to receive him as a brother, to enrol his name on
their list, and to grant no church privileges to any individual of the parish of
Kinross, but upon Mr Stark’s letter of recommendation requiring or allowing them
so to do, and this in the face of the presbytery’s declaration, that Mr Stark
had been imposed on the parish of Kinross, and upon them, by the simple fiat of
the patron. Against this decision, protests and dissents were presented by many
individuals, but by a previous law they had provided, that nothing of the kind
should henceforth be entered upon the journals of the courts, whether supreme or
subordinate, thus leaving no room for individuals to exonerate their own
consciences, nor any legitimate record of the opposition that had been made to
departures from established and fundamental laws, or innovations upon tacitly
acknowledged rules of propriety and good order. This same assembly, as if
anxious to extinguish the possibility of popular claims being at any future
period revived, proceeded to enact into a standing law an overture of last
assembly, for establishing a uniform method of planting vacant churches, when at
any time the right of doing so should fall into the hands of presbyteries,
tanquam jure devoluto, or by the consent of the parties interested in the
settlement. This uniform method was simply the conferring the power of suffrage,
in country parishes, on heritors being protestant, no matter though they were
episcopalians, and elders, in burghs, on magistrates, town council,—and
elders,—and in burghs with landward parishes joined, on magistrates, town
council, heritors, and elders joined, and this to continue "till it should
please God in his providence to relieve this church from the grievances arising
from the act restoring patronages." This act was unquestionably planned by men
to whom patronage presented no real grievances, and it was itself nothing but
patronage modified very little for the better. But the authors of it had the art
to pass it off upon many simple well-meaning men, as containing all that the
constitution of the Scottish church had ever at any time allowed to the body of
the people, and as so moderately worded that the government could not but be
amply satisfied that no danger could arise from its exercise, and of course
would give up its claims upon patronage without a murmur. In consequence of
this, the act passed through the assembly with less opposition than even in the
decayed state of the church might have been expected. In fact it passed through
the court at the expense of its very constitution. By the barrier act, it has
been wisely provided, that no law shall be enacted by the assembly, till in the
shape of an overture, it has been transmitted to every presbytery in the church,
a majority of whose views in its favour must be obtained before it be made the
subject of deliberation. In this case it had been transmitted; but eighteen
presbyteries had not made the required return, eighteen approved of it with
material alterations, and thirty-one were absolutely against it; so that the
conduct of the party who pushed this act into law, was barefaced in the extreme.
Nor was the attempt to persuade the people, that it contained the true meaning
and spirit of the standards of the church less so. The first book of discipline
compiled in the year 1560, and ratified by act of parliament in the year 1567,
says expressly, "No man should enter in the ministry, without a lawful vocation:
the lawful vocation standeth in the election of the people, examination of the
ministry, and admission by both." And as if the above were not plain enough, it
is added, "No minister should be intruded upon any particular kirk, without
their consent." The second book of discipline agreed upon in the general
assembly, 1578, inserted in their registers, 1581, sworn to in the national
covenant the same year revived, and ratified by the famous assembly at Glasgow,
in the year 1638, and according to which the government of the church, was
established first in the year 1592, and again in the year 1640, is equally
explicit on this head. "Vocation or calling is common to all that should bear
office within the kirk, which is a lawful way by the which qualified persons are
promoted to spiritual office within the kirk of God. Without this lawful
calling, it was never leisome to any to meddle with any function
ecclesiastical." After speaking of vocation as extraordinary and ordinary, the
compilers state "this ordinary and outward calling," to consist of two parts,
election, and ordination." Election they state to be "the choosing out of a
person or persons most able to the office that vakes, by the judgment of the
eldership, (the presbytery), and consent of the congregation to which the person
or persons shall be appointed. In the order of election is to be eschewed, that
any person be intruded in any office of the kirk, contrary to the will of the
congregation to which they are appointed, or without the voice of the
eldership," not the eldership or session of the congregation to which the person
is to be appointed, as has been often ignorantly assumed; but the eldership or
presbytery in whose bounds the vacant congregation lies, and under whose charge
it is necessarily placed in a peculiar manner, by its being vacant, or without a
public teacher. In perfect unison with the above, when the articles to be
reformed are enumerated in a following chapter, patronage is one of the most
prominent, is declared to have "flowed from the pope and corruption of the canon
law, in so far as thereby any person was intruded or placed over kirks having
carum animarum; and forasmuch as that manner of proceeding hath no
ground in the word of God, but is contrary to the same, and to the said liberty
of election, they ought not now to have place in this light of reformation; and,
therefore, whosoever will embrace God’s word, and desire the kingdom of his son
Christ Jesus to be advanced, they will also embrace and receive that policy and
order, which the word of God and upright state of this kirk crave; otherwise it
is in vain that they have professed the same." Though the church had thus
clearly delivered her opinion with regard to patronages, she had never been able
to shake herself perfectly free from them, excepting for a few years previous to
the restoration of Charles II., when they were restored in all their mischievous
power and tendencies; and the revolution church being set down, not upon the
attainments of the second, but upon the less clear and determinate ones of the
first reformation, patronage somewhat modified, with other evils, was entailed
on the country. Something of the light and heat of the more recent, as well as
more brilliant period, still, however, remained; and in the settlement of the
church made by the parliament in the year 1690, patronage in its direct form was
set aside, not as an antichristian abomination, and incompatible with christian
liberty, as it ought to have been, but as "inconvenient and subject to abuse."
Though this act, however, was the act only of a civil court, it was less remote
from scripture and common sense, than this act of the highest ecclesiastical
court in the nation. By that act "upon a vacancy, the heritors, being
protestants," (by a subsequent act it was provided, that they should be
qualified protestants,) "and the elders, are to name and propose the person to
the whole congregation, to be either approven, or disapproven by them; and if
they disapprove, the disapprovers to give in their reasons to the effect the
affair may be cognosced by the presbytery of the bounds, at whose judgment, and
by whose determination the calling and entry of a particular minister is to be
ordered and concluded." By this act, which we by no means admire, the heritors
it would appear might have proposed one candidate to the congregation, and the
elders another; nor, whether there was but one candidate or two, had the
election been completed till the congregation had given their voice. But by the
assembly’s act, the heritors and the elders elected as one body; the work was by
them completed; and, however much the congregation might be dissatisfied, except
they could prove the elected person immoral in conduct, or erroneous in
doctrine, they had no resource but to submit quietly to the choice of their
superiors, the heritors and the elders.
The act of 1690 was liable to
great abuse; yet, by the prudent conduct of presbyteries, complaints were for
many years comparatively few, and but for the restoration of patrons to their
antichristian power, might have continued to be so long enough. For ten or
twelve years previous to this period, 1732, patrons had been gaining ground
every year, and this act was unquestionably intended to accommodate any little
appearance of liberty which remained in the Scottish church to the genius of
patronage, which was now by the leaders of the dominant party declared the only
sure if not legitimate door of entrance to the benefice, whatever it might be to
the affections and the spiritual edification of the people. The measure,
however, was incautious and premature. There was a spirit abroad which the
ruling faction wanted the means to break, and which their frequent attempts to
bend ought to have taught them was already far beyond their strength. As an
overture and an interim act, it had been almost universally condemned; and, now
that it was made a standing law, without having gone through the usual forms,
and neither protest; dissent, nor remonstrance allowed to be entered against it,
nothing remained for its opponents but, as occasion offered, to testify against
it from the pulpit or the press, which many embraced the earliest opportunity of
doing. Scarcely, indeed, had the members of assembly reached their respective
homes with the report of their proceedings, when, in the evening of the Sabbath,
June 4th, in a sermon from Isaiah ix. 6, the subject of this memoir attacked the
obnoxious act with such force of argument as was highly gratifying to its
opponents, but peculiarly galling to its abettors, who were everywhere, in the
course of a few days, by the loud voice of general report, informed of the
circumstance, with manifold exaggerations. Public, however, as this condemnation
of the act of assembly was, Mr Erskine did not think it enough. Having occasion,
as late moderator, to open the synod of Perth on the 10th day of October, the
same year, taking for his text, Psalm cxviii. 22, "The Stone which the builders
rejected, the same is made the Head Stone of the Corner," he delivered himself,
on the disputed points, more at large, and with still greater freedom. In this
sermon, Mr Erskine asserted, in its full breadth, the doctrine which we have
above proved, from her standards, to have all along been the doctrine of the
church of Scotland—that the election of a minister belonged to the whole body of
the people. "The promise," said he, keeping up the figure in the text, "of
conduct and counsel in the choice of men that are to build, is not made to
patrons and heritors, or any other set of men, but to the church, the body of
Christ, to whom apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are
given. As it is a natural privilege of every house or society of men, to have
the choice of their own servants or officer; so it is the privilege of the house
of God in a particular manner. What a miserable bondage would it be
reckoned, for any family to have stewards, or servants, imposed on them by
strangers, who might give the children a stone for bread, or a scorpion instead
of a fish, poison instead of medicine; and shall we suppose that our God granted
a power to any set of men, patrons, heritors, or whatever they be, a power to
impose servants on his family, they being the purest society in the world?" This
very plain and homely passage, which, for the truth it contains, and the noble
spirit of liberty which it breathes, deserves to be written with an iron pen and
lead in the rock for ever, gave great offence to many members of synod, and
particularly to Mr Mercer of Aberdalgie, who moved that Mr Erskine should be
rebuked for his freedom of speech, and admonished to be more circumspect for the
future. This produced the appointment of a committee, to draw out the passages
complained of; which being done, and Mr Erskine refusing to retract any thing he
had said, the whole was laid before the synod. The synod, after a debate of
three days, found, by a plurality of six voices, Mr Erskine censurable, and
ordered him to be rebuked and admonished at their bar accordingly. The
presbytery of Stirling was also instructed to notice his behaviour in time
coming, at their privy censures, and report to the next meeting of synod.
Against this sentence Mr Erskine entered his protest, and appealed to the
general assembly. Mr Alexander Moncrief of Abernethy also protested against this
sentence, in which he was joined by a number of his brethren, only two of whom,
Mr William Wilson of Perth, and Mr Fisher of Kinclaven, Mr Erskine’s son-in-law,
became eventually seceders, Firm to their purpose, the synod, on the last
sederunt of their meeting, called Mr Erskine up to be rebuked; and he not
appearing, it was resolved that he should be rebuked at their next meeting in
April. Personal pique against Mr Erskine, and envy of his extensive popularity,
were unfortunately at the bottom of this procedure, which, as it increased that
popularity in a tenfold degree, heightened proportionally the angry feelings of
his opponents, and rendered them incapable of improving the few months that
elapsed between the meetings of synod, for taking a more cool and dispassionate
view of the subject. The synod met in April, under the same excitation of
feeling; and though the presbytery and the kirk session of Stirling exerted
themselves to the utmost in order to bring about an accommodation, it was in
vain: the representations of the first were disregarded., and the petition of
the other was not so much as read. Mr Erskine being called, and compearing,
simply told them that he adhered to his appeal. There cannot be a doubt but that
the synod was encouraged to persevere in its wayward course by the leaders of
the assembly, who were now resolved to lay prostrate every shadow of opposition
to their measures. Accordingly, when the assembly met, in the month of May
following, 1733, they commenced proceedings by taking up the case of Mr Stark,
the intruder into the parish of Kinross, and the presbytery of Dunfermline,
which they finished in the highest style of authority; probably, in part, for
the very purpose of intimidating such as might be disposed to befriend Mr
Erskine on this momentous occasion. Multitudes, it was well known, approved
of every word Mr Erskine had said; but when it was made apparent with what
a high hand they were to be treated, if they took any part in the matter, even
those who wished him a safe deliverance might be afraid to take his part.
Probably he himself was not without painful misgivings when he beheld the tide
of authority thus rolling resistlessly along, but he had committed himself, and
neither honour nor conscience would allow him to desert the prominence on which,
in the exercise of his duty, he had come to be placed, though, for the time, it
was covered with darkness, and seemed to be surrounded with danger. His appeal
to the assembly he supported by reasons alike admirable, whether we consider
their pointed bearing on the subject, the piety that runs through them, or the
noble spirit of independence which they breathe. The reasons of his
appeal were five, of which we can only give a feeble outline. 1st, The
imbittered spirit of the greater part of the synod, by which they were evidently
incapable of giving an impartial judgment. 2nd, The tendency of such procedure
to gag the mouths of those, who, by their commission, must use all boldness and
freedom in dealing with the consciences of men. 3d, Because, though the synod
had found him censurable, they had condescended on no one part of the truth of
God’s word, or the standards of this church, from which he had receded.
4th, The censured expressions, viewed abstractly from the committee’s remarks,
which the synod disowned, are not only inoffensive but either scriptural
or natively founded on scripture. The fifth reason regarded the obnoxious act of
assembly, against which he could not retract his testimony, and which the synod,
by their procedure, had made a term of ministerial communion, which, for various
reasons, he showed could not be so to him. On all these accounts, he claimed,
"from the equity of the venerab1e assembly," a reversal of the sentence of the
synod. To Mr Erskine’s appeal Mr James Fisher gave in his name as adhering.
Reasons of protest were also given in by Mr Alexander Moncrief and a number of
ministers and elders adhering to him, fraught with the most cogent arguments,
though couched in the modest form of supplication rather than assertion. But
they had all one fate, viz, were considered great aggravations of Mr Erskine’s
original offence. The sentence of the synod was confirmed, and, to terminate the
process, Mr Erskine appointed to be rebuked and admonished by the moderator, at
the bar of the assembly, which was done accordingly. Mr Erskine, however,
declared that he could not submit to the rebuke and admonition, and gave in a
protest for himself, Mr Wilson, Mr Moncrief, and Mr Fisher, each of whom
demanded to be heard on their reasons of appeal, but were refused,—Mr Moncrief
and Mr Wilson, immediately by the assembly, and Mr Fisher, by the committee of
bills refusing to transmit his reasons, which were, in consequence, left upon
the table of the house. The paper was titled, "Protest by Mr Ebenezer Erskine
and others, given in to the assembly, 1733." "Although I have a very great and
dutiful regard to the judicatures of this church, to whom I own subjection in
the lord, yet, in respect the assembly has found me censurable, and have
tendered a rebuke and admonition to me for things I conceive agreeable to the
word of God and our approven standards, I find myself obliged to protest against
the foresaid censure, as importing that I have, in my doctrine, at the opening
of the synod of Perth, in October last, departed from the word of God, and the
foresaid standards, and that I shall be at liberty to preach the same truths of
God, and to testify against the same or like detections of this church upon all
proper occasions. And I do hereby adhere unto the testimonies I have formerly
emitted against the act of assembly, 1732, whether in the protest entered
against it in open assembly, or yet in my synodical sermon, çraving this my
protest and declaration be inserted in the records of assembly, and that I be
allowed extracts thereof: Ebenezer Erskine." "We, undersigned subscribers,
dissenters from the sentence of the synod of Perth and Stirling, do hereby
adhere to the above protestation and declaration, containing a testimony against
the act of assembly 1732, and asserting our privilege and duty to testify
publicly against the same or like defections upon all proper occasions: William
Wilson, Alexander Moncrief" "I Mr James Fisher, minister at Kinclaven, appellant
against the synod of Perth in this question, although the committee of bills did
not think fit to transmit my reasons of appeal, find myself obliged to
adhere unto the foresaid protestation and declaration: James Fisher." This paper
being referred to a committee, that committee returned it with the following
overture, which by a great majority of the assembly, was instantly turned into
an act :—"The general assembly ordains, that the four brethren aforesaid, appear
before the commission in August next, and then show their sorrow for their
conduct and misbehaviour in offering to protest, and in giving in to this
assembly the paper by them subscribed, and that they then retract the same. And
in case they do not appear before the said commission in August, and then show
their sorrow, and retract as said is, the commission is hereby empowered and
appointed to suspend the said brethren, or such of them as shall not obey, from
the exercise of their ministry. And farther, in case the said brethren shall be
suspended by the said commission, and that they shall act contrary to the said
sentence of suspension, the commission is hereby empowered and appointed, at
their meeting in November, or any subsequent meeting, to proceed to a higher
censure against the said four brethren, or such of them as shall continue to
offend by transgressing this act. And the general assembly do appoint the
several presbyteries of which the said brethren are members, to report to the
commission in August and subsequent meetings of it, their conduct and behaviour
with respect to this act." The four brethren, on this sentence being intimated
to them, offered to read the following as their joint speech :—"In regard the
venerable assembly have come to a positive sentence without hearing our defence,
and have appointed the commission to execute the sentence in Angust, in case we
do not retract what we have done, we cannot but complain of this uncommon
procedure, and declare that we are not at liberty to take this affair into
avisandum." The assembly, however, would not hear them, and they left their
paper on the table, under form of instrument.
This sentence excited a deep
sensation in every corner of the country, and when the four brethren, as they
were now called, appeared before the commission in the month of August, numerous
representations were presented in their behalf stating the evils that were
likely to result from persevering in the measures that had been adopted towards
them, and recommending caution and delay as the only means whereby matters might
be accommodated, and the peace of the church preserved. On Mr Erskine’s behalf,
especially, the petitions were urgent, and the testimonials to his character
strong. "Mr Erskine’s character," say the presbytery of Stirling in their
representation to the çommission, "is so established amongst the body of
professors of this part of the church, that we believe even the authority of an
assembly condemning him cannot lessen it, yea, the condemnation itself, in the
present case will tend to heighten it, and in his case, should the sentence be
executed, most lamentable consequences would ensue, and most melancholy
divisions will be increased; the success of the gospel in our bounds hindered;
reproach, clamour, and noise will take place; our congregations be torn in
pieces; ministers of Christ will be deserted and misrepresented; and our enemies
will rejoice over us. The same evils were apprehended by the kirk session of
Stirling, and the observations of both presbytery and session were confirmed by
the town council.—"We beg leave," say they, "briefly to represent that Mr
Erskine was settled as an ordained minister amongst us for the greater
edification of the place, and that with no small trouble and expense—that we
have always lived in good friendship with him, after now two full years’
acquaintance—that we find him to be of a peaceable disposition of mind, and of a
religious walk and conversation, and to be every way fitted and qualified for
discharging the office of the ministry amongst us, and that he has accordingly
discharged the same to our great satisfaction—that, therefore, our being
deprived of his ministerial performances must undoubtedly be very moving and
afflictive to us, and that the putting the foresaid act (the act of suspension)
into execution, we are afraid, will in all likelihood be attended with very
lamentable circumstances, confusions, and disorders, too numerous and tedious to
be here rehearsed, and that not only in this place in particular, but also in
the church in general." The kirk session and town council of Perth presented
each a representation in favour of Mr Wilson, as did the presbyteries of
Dunblane and Ellon, praying the commission to wait at least for the instructions
of another assembly. Full of the spirit of the assembly which had appointed it,
however, the commission was deaf to all admonitions, refusing to read, or even
to allow any of these representations to be read, with the exception of a small
portion of that from the presbytery of Stirling, which might be done as a mark
of respect to Mr Erskine’s character, or it might be intended to awaken the envy
and rage of his enemies. Mr Erskine prepared himself a pretty full
representation, as an appellant from the sentence of the synod of Perth and
Stirling, as did also Mr James Fisher. Messrs Wilson and Moncrief, as protesters
against that sentence, gave in papers, under form of instrument, insisting upon
it as their right to choose their own mode of defence, which was by writing. Mr
Erskine was allowed, with some difficulty, to read his paper, but none of the
others could obtain the like indulgence, so they delivered the substance of them
in speeches at the bar. They did not differ in substance from those formerly
given in, and of which we have already given the reader as liberal specimens as
our limits will permit. "In regard they were not convicted of departing from any
of the received principles of the church of Scotland, or of counteracting their
ordination vows and engagements; they protested that it should be lawful and
warrantable for them to exercise their ministry as heretofore they had done; and
that they should not be chargeable with any of the lamentable effects that might
follow upon the course taken with them." The commission, without any hesitation,
suspended them from the exercise of the ministerial function in all its parts.
Against this sentence they renewed their protestations, and paid no regard to
it, as all of them confessed when brought before the commission in the month of
November. Applications in their behalf were more numerous, at the meeting of the
commission, in November, than they had been in August, and they had the
advantage of those of August, in that they were read. The prayer of them all was
delay; and it carried in the commission, to proceed to a higher censure only by
the casting vote of Mr Goldie, (or Gowdie,) the moderator. The sentence was
pronounced on the 16th day of November, 1733, to the following effect:—"The
commission of the general assembly did, and hereby do, loose the pastoral
relation of Mr Ebenezer Erskine, minister at Stirling, Mr William Wilson,
minister at Perth, Mr Alexander Moncrief, minister at Abernethy, and Mr James
Fisher, minister at Kinclaven, to their said respective charges; and do declare
them no longer ministers of this church. And do hereby prohibit all ministers of
this church to employ them, or any of them, in any ministerial function. And the
commission do declare the churches of the said Messrs Erskine, Wilson, Moncrief,
and Fisher, vacant from and after the date of this sentence." Extracts were
also, by the sentence, ordered to be sent with letters to the several
presbyteries in whose bounds the said ministers had their charges, ordering
intimation of the sentence to be made in the several vacant churches. Letters,
intimating the sentence, were also ordered to the magistrates of Perth and
Stirling, to the sheriff principal of Perth, and baillie of the regality of
Abernethy. Against this sentence, Mr Erskine and his brethren took the following
protestation, which may be considered as the basis, or constitution, of the
secession church. "We hereby adhere to the protestation formerly entered before
this court, both at their last meeting in August, and when we appeared before
this meeting. And, thither, we do protest, in our own name, and in the name of
all and every one in our respective congregations adhering to us, that,
notwithstanding of this sentence passed against us, our pastoral relation shall
be held and reputed firm and valid. And, likewise, we protest, that,
notwithstanding of our being cast out from ministerial communion with the
established church of Scotland, we still hold communion with all and every one
who desire, with us, to adhere to the principles of the true presbyterian church
of Scotland, in her doctrine, worship, government, and discipline, and
particularly with all who are groaning under the evils, and who are afflicted
with the grievances we have been complaining of, and who are, in their several
spheres, wrestling against the same. But in regard the prevailing party in this
established church, who have now cast us out from ministerial communion with
them, are carrying on a course of defection from our reformed and covenanted
principles, and particularly are suppressing ministerial freedom and
faithfulness in testifying against the present backslidings, and inflicting
censures upon ministers for witnessing, by protestations and otherwise, against
the same. Therefore we do, for these and many other weighty reasons, to be laid
open in due time, protest that we are obliged to make a secession from them, and
that we can hold no ministerial communion with them till they see their sins and
mistakes, and amend them; and in like manner, we do protest that it shall be
lawful and warrantable for us to exercise the keys of doctrine, discipline, and
government, according to the word of God, and confession of faith, and the
principles and constitution of the covenanted church of Scotland, as if no such
censure had been passed upon us; upon all which we take instruments. And we do
hereby appeal to the first free, faithful, and reforming general assembly of the
church of Scotland." Mr Gabriel Wilson, of Maxton, one of the eleven brethren
who, thirteen years before this, had been joined with Mr Erskine in the defence
of the Marrow, took a protest against the sentence at the same time, which was
adhered to by Ralph Erskine, Dunfermline; Thomas Muir, Orwell; John Maclaurin,
Edinburgh; John Currie, Kinglassie, afterwards the most bitter enemy of the
secession; James Wardlaw, Dunfermline, and Thomas Nairn, Abbotshall; the greater
part of whom lived to advance the interests of the secession.
In this violent struggle for the
church’s and the people’s liberties, Mr Erskine was ably supported by his three
brethren, Messrs Wilson, Moncrief, and Fisher, and his popularity was extended
beyond what might be supposed reasonable limits. His congregation clung to him
with increasing fondness, and his worthy colleague, Mr Alexander Hamilton,
during the short time he lived after the rise of the secession, ceased not to
show him the warmest regard by praying publicly, both for him and the associate
presbytery. This presbytery was constituted with solemn prayer, by Mr Ebenezer
Erskine at Gairny Bridge, near Kinross, on the 6th day of December, 1733, the
greater part of that, and the whole of the preceding day having been spent in
prayer. The associate presbytery consisted at first only of the four brethren;
for though Messrs Ralph Erskine and Thomas Muir were both present at its
constituting, they were only spectators. Though they had thus put themselves in
a posture to work, they did not proceed for some years to any judicative acts,
further than publishing papers relating to the public cause in which they were
engaged; these were a review of the narrative and state of the proceedings
against them, issued by a committee of the commission of the general assembly,
published in March, 1734; and a testimony to the doctrine, worship, and.
government of the church of Scotland, or reasons for their protestation entered
before the commission of the general assembly, in November, 1733, &c. This has
been since known by the name of the extrajudicial testimony. In these papers Mr
Erskine had his full share, and they had an effect upon the public mind, which
alarmed the ruling faction in the church not a little, and drove them upon
measures which could hardly have been anticipated. The friends of the seceders
indeed made an extraordinary bustle, many of them from no sincere motives, some
of them anxious to heal the breach, and others of them only anxious for a
pretext to stand by and do nothing in the matter. The leaders of the assembly,
too, fearful of the consequences of a system that was untried, were willing to
concede something at the present time, to outraged orthodoxy, knowing well that
though they could not recall the past, they might yet, by a semblance of
moderation, preserve on their side a number of the more timid of the friends of
the seceders who had not yet declared themselves, by which the schism, though
not totally healed, might be greatly circumscribed. Accordingly, the next
assembly when it met in the month of May, 1734, was found to be of a somewhat
different complexion from a number that had preceded it. There was still,
however, as one of its members and its great admirer has remarked, "the mighty
opposition of great men, ruling elders, who had a strong party in the house to
support them," and who took effectual care, that nothing should be done in the
way of reformation, further than might be justified by a calculating worldly
policy. In passing the commission book, sundry reservations were made of a
rather novel kind, and among others, the sentence passed against Mr Erskine and
his three brethren. The act of 1730, forbidding the registering of dissents, and
the act of 1732, concerning the planting of vacant churches, were both declared
to be no longer binding rules in the church. The synod of Perth and Stirling
were also empowered to take up the case of Mr Erskine, and without inquiring
into the legality or justice of any of the steps that had been taken on either
side, restore the harmony and peace of the church, and for this
purpose they were to meet on the first Tuesday of July next. Never had any synod
before this such a task enjoined these. The preceding assembly had
enjoined its commission to do all that had been done toward Mr Erskine and his
friends. This assembly enjoins the synod to reverse all that had been done by
the commission, but with the express promise, that they shall not take it upon
them to judge either of the legality or the formality of the proceedings they
were thus ordered to reverse. Upon what principle was the synod to proceed? If
the sentence of the commission was pronounced on proper grounds, and the
subjects of it had given no signs of repentance, the assembly itself could not
warrantably nor consistently take it off. This, "the great men, the ruling
elders, who had a strong party in the house to support them, were perfectly
aware of; but there were a few men, such as Willison, Currie, and Macintosh, who
they knew had a hankering after the seceders, and whom they wished to secure
upon their own side, and they served them by an act more absurd than any
of those that had occasioned the secession; an act requiring a synod to reverse
a sentence, that either was or ought to have been pronounced in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, without inquiring into the validity, or presuming to give an
opinion respecting it? The synod, however, hasted to perform the duty assigned
them, and on the second of July, 1734, met at Perth, when, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, they took off the sentences from all the four brethren,
restoring them to their standing in the church, ordered their names to be placed
upon the presbytery and synod rolls, as if there had never been act, sentence,
or impediment in their way. The seceders had too much penetration to be gulled
by this invention, and too much honesty to accept of the seeming boon; but it
answered the main purpose that it was intended to serve, it afforded a handle
for reviving a popular clamour against them, and proved an excellent excuse for
their summer friends to desert them. The reforming fit was past in the meeting.
Of next assembly in 1736, which was as violent in its proceedings as any that
had preceded it. Mr Erskine and his friends now despairing of any speedy
reformations in the judicatories, published their reasons for not acceding to
these judications, and proceeded to prepare the judicial act and testimony,
which, after many diets of fasting and prayer, was enacted at their
twenty-fourth presbyterial meeting, in the month of December, 1736. Mr Erskine
continued all this time to occupy his own parish church, and was attended with
the same respectful attention as ever. In the year 1738, the assembly began to
persecute Mr Erskine and his friends, who were now considerably increased. In
the year 1739, he, along with his brethren, was served with a libel to appear
before the general assembly, where they appeared as a constituted presbytery,
and by their moderator gave in a paper, declining the authority of the court.
The assembly, however, delayed giving sentence against them till next year,
1740, when they were all deposed, and ordered to be ejected from their churches.
On the sabbath after this, Mr Erskine retired with his congregation to a
convenient place in the fields, where he continued to preach till a spacious
meeting-house was prepared by his people, all of whom adhered to him, and in
this house he continued to officiate when ability served till the day of his
death. In the year 1742, Mr Erskine was employed, along with Mr Alexander
Moncrief, to enlarge the secession testimony, which they did by that most
excellent and well known little work, entitled an act anent the doctrine of
grace. About this period he had also some correspondence with Mr George
Whitefield, which terminated in a way that could not be pleasing to either
party. Along with the doctrines of grace, the associate presbytery took into
consideration the propriety of renewing the national covenants. An overture to
this purpose was approved of by the presbytery on the twenty-first of October,
1742, the same day that they passed the act anent the doctrine of grace. That a
work of so much solemnity might be gone about with all due deliberation, the
presbytery agreed that there should be room left for all the members to state
freely whatever difficulties they might have upon the subject, and it
accordingly lay over till the twenty-third of December, 1743, when the overture,
with sundry amendments and enlargements, was unanimously approved of and
enacted. A solemn acknowledgment of sins being prepared for the occasion, and a
solemn engagement to duties, on the twenty-eighth of December, Mr Erskine
preached a sermon at Stirling, the day being observed as a day of solenm fasting
and humiliation, after which the confession of sins was read, and the engagement
to duties sworn to and subscribed by fifteen ministers, of whom Ebenezer Erskine
was the first that subscribed. Shortly after, the same thing was done at
Falkirk, where five ministers more subscribed. In this work no man of the body
was more hearty than Mr Ebenezer Erskine; and it went through a number of
congregations, till a stop was put to it by the question that arose respecting
the religious clause of some burgess oaths, which it was alleged were utterly
inconsistent with the oath of the covenants, and with the secession testimony.
The associate presbytery had already determined the oaths of abjuration and
allegiance to be sinful, as embracing the complex constitution, and was of
course incompatible with the testimony which they had emitted against that
complex constitution. At the last meeting of the associate presbytery, Mr
Alexander Moncrief gave in a paper, stating his scruples with regard to the
religious clause of some burgess oaths, which he apprehended, would be found
when examined, to be equally sinful with those they had already condemned. The
dissolution of the associate presbytery being determined on, the question was
reserved for a first essay of the associate synod. Accordingly, when the synod
met in the month of March, 1745, it was among the first motions that came before
them; and after much discussion, the synod, in the month of April, 1746, found
"that the swearing the religious clause in some burgess oaths,— ‘Here I protest
before God and your lordships, that I profess and allow within my heart, the
true religion presently professed within this realm, and authorized by the laws
thereof; I shall abide thereat and defend the same to my life’s end, renouncing
the Romish religion, called papistry,’—by any under their inspection, as the
said clause comes necessarily in this period to be used and applied in a way
that does not agree unto the present state and circumstances of the testimony
for religion and reformation which this synod, with these under their
inspection, are maintaining; particularly, that it does not agree unto nor
consist with an entering into the bond for renewing our solemn covenants, and
that, therefore, these seceding cannot farther, with safety of conscience and
without sin, swear any burgess oath with the said religious clause, while
matters, with reference to the profession and settlement of religion, continue
in such circumstances as at present," &c. When this subject was first stated, it
did not appear to be attended either with difficulty or danger. Questions of
much more intricacy had been discussed at great length, and harmoniously
disposed of by the associate presbytery; and the above decision, we are
persuaded every unbiassed reader, when he reflects that it was intended to bind
only those who had already acceded to the sederunt act and testimony, will think
that it should have given entire satisfaction. This, however, was far from being
the case. Some personal pique seems to have subsisted between two of the members
of court, Mr Moncrief and Mr Fisher; in consequence of which, the latter
regarded the conduct of the former with some suspicion. Being son-in-law to Mr
Ebenezer Erskine, the latter, too, was supported by both the Erskines, who were
the idols of the body, and on this occasion gave most humiliating evidence of
the power of prejudice to darken the clearest intellects, and to pervert the
purest and the warmest hearts. The question was simple—What was meant by those
who framed and now imposed the oath? Was it the true religion abstractly
considered, that was to be acknowledged by the swearer? or was it not rather the
true religion embodied in a particular form, and guaranteed by particular laws,
to insure the integrity of which, the oath was principally intended? Either this
was the case, or the oath was superfluous and unmeaning, and of course could not
be lawfully sworn by any one, whatever might be his opinions, as in that case it
would have been a taking of the name of God in vain. True, however, it is, that
volumes were written, of which no small portion came from the pens of the
venerable Ralph Erskine and the worthy Mr James Fisher, to prove that nothing
was sworn to in the oath but the true religion, abstracting from all the
accompanying and qualifying clauses thereof. A protest against the above
decision of synod was taken by Messrs Ralph Erskine, James Fisher, William
Hutton, Henry Erskine, and John M’Cara, in which they were joined by two elders,
and by the time of next meeting of synod, the whole body as in a flame, every
individual having committed himself on the one side or the other.
When the synod met on the 7th of
April, 1747, the subject was resumed with a warmth that indicated not ardour,
but absolute frenzy. The protesters against the former decision of the question,
instead of bringing up their reasons of protest, as order and decency requited,
began by renewing the original question, Whether the act of synod was to be made
a term of communion before it should be sent round in the form of an overture,
to sessions and presbyteries for their judgment there-anent; the members of
synod in the meantime praying and conferring with one another for light upon the
subject. To this it was opposed as a previous question—Call for the
reasons of protest, and the answers thereunto, that they may be read and
considered. The question being put, which of the two questions should be voted,
it carried for the first; from this Mr W. Campbell entered his dissent, to which
Mr Thomas Moir and Mr Moncrief adhered. Next morning the protesters resumed the
question with renewed ardour, or rather rage, Mr Moir again entered his protest,
followed by eleven ministers, and ten elders. The protesters still insisting for
their question, the whole day was wasted in shameful discussions; Mr Gibb
protesting against the proposal of the protesters, in a new and somewhat
startling form. Having adjourned one hour, the synod met again at eight, or
between eight and nine o’clock, p. m., when the war of words was renewed for
several hours, the protesters still insisting upon having the vote put; a
protest against it was again entered by Mr Moncrief, which was adhered to by
twelve ministers and ten elders. The moderator of course refused to put the
vote, as did the clerk pro tempore; one of the party then called the
roll, another marked the votes, the sum total of which, was nine ministers and
eleven elders, and of these, six ministers and one elder were protesters, and of
course, parties in the cause that had not the smallest right to vote on the
subject. In this way, twenty voters, and of these twenty only thirteen legal
voters, carried a deed against twenty-three, standing before them in solemn
opposition under cover of all legal forms that, in time circumstances in which
they stood, it was possible for them to employ. In this most extraordinary
crisis, Mr Moir, the moderator of the former meeting of synod, considering the
present moderator as having ceased to act, claimed that place for himself, and
the powers of the associate synod for those who had stood firm under their
protest against such disorderly procedure, whom he requested to meet in Mr
Gibb’s house tomorrow, to transact the business of the associate synod.
They did so, and thus one part of the associate synod was reconstituted. The
other part met next day in the usual place, having the moderator, though he had
deserted them the night before, along with them, and the clerk pro tempore;
on which they returned themselves as being the true associate synod.
Whatever superiority in point of order was between them, entirely belonged to
the party that met in Mr Gibb’s house, and have since been known by the name of
antiburghers and they showed some sense of shame by making open confession of
the sad display which they had made of their own corruptions, in managing what
they then and still considered to be the cause of God. The other party were
certainly even in this respect the more culpable; but having the unfettered
possession of their beloved oath, they seem to have been more at ease
with themselves, than their brethren. A more deplorable circumstance certainly
never took place in any regularly constituted church, nor one that more
completely demonstrated how little the wisest and the best of men are to be
depended on when they are left to the influence of their own spirits. The very
individual persons who, in a long and painful dispute with the established
judicature, upon points of the highest importance, had conducted themselves with
singular judgment, prudence, and propriety, here, upon a very trifling question,
and of easy solution, behaved in a manner not only disgraceful to the christian
but to the human character; violating in their case, to carry a point of very
little moment, the first principles of order, without preserving which it is
impossible to carry on rationally the affairs of ordinary society. In all this
unhappy business we blush to be obliged to acknowledge that Ebenezer Erskine had
an active hand; he stood in front of the list of the burgher presbytery, and, if
we may believe the report of some who boast of being his admirers, abated
considerably after this of his zeal for the principles of the reformation. He
certainly lost much of his respectability by the share he had in augmenting the
storm which his age and his experience should have been employed to moderate,
and it must have been but an unpleasant subject for his after meditations. He
was after this engaged in nothing of public importance. He lived indeed
only seven years after this, and the better half of them under considerable
infirmity. He died on the twenty-second of June, 1756, aged seventy-four years,
saving one month. He was buried by his own desire, in the middle of his
meeting-house, where a large stone with a Latin inscription, recording the date
of his death, his age, and the periods of his ministry at Portmoak and Stirling,
still marks out the spot. Mr Erskine was twice married; first, as we have
already mentioned, to that excellent woman, Alison Terpie, who died sometime in
the year 1720. He married three years afterwards a daughter of the Rev. James
Webster, Edinburgh, who also died before him. He left behind him several
children, one of whom, a daughter, died so late as the year 1814. Of his
character we have scarcely left ourselves room to speak. As a writer of sermons
he is sound, savoury, and practical, abounding in clear views of the gospel,
with its uses and influence in promoting holiness of life. As a preacher, he was
distinguished among the greatest men of his day. In learning, and in compass of
mind, he was inferior to the author of "The Trust," and, for keen and
penetrating genius, to the author of "The Defence of the reformation principles
of the church of Scotland;" but for straight forward good sense,
incorruptible integrity, and dauntless intrepidity, he was equal to any man of
the age in which he lived.
The Whole Works of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine
Minister of the Gospel at Stirling consisting of Sermons and Discourses on
important and interesting subjects to which is added an enlarged memoir of the
author by the Rev. D. Fraser, minister of the United Associate Synod, Kennoway,
Fife in three volumes (1836)
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
Volume 3 (pdf) |