Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/439

 twenty-five publications, and in addition to these he edited twenty. His chief works were: 1. A volume of ‘Theological Dissertations,’ 1765. 2. Pamphlets on the American question. 3. ‘Considerations on the Spirit of Popery,’ 1778. 4. ‘Sketches and Hints of Church History and Theological Controversy, chiefly translated and abridged from modern foreign writers,’ 2 vols. 1790 and 1797. 5. ‘Letters on Loss of Children and Friends.’ 6. A supplement to Gillies's ‘Historical Collections,’ 1796. 7. ‘Discourses on Several Occasions,’ 2 vols. 1798, 1804. The books which he edited and published in this country were chiefly works of Jonathan Edwards and other American divines.

Erskine was very heartily devoted to the doctrines and aims of the evangelical party in the church, of which his family connections, his stainless character, and his abilities as a preacher and a writer contributed to make him one of the leading champions. It was a testimony to the amiability of both that he and Principal Robertson, the leader of the ‘moderate’ party, should have been friendly colleagues in the same congregation for a quarter of a century. On one occasion, during the discussion of the catholic question, when a mob assembled with the intention of wrecking the house of the principal, who was on the unpopular side, Erskine appeared on the scene, and prevailed on the mob to withdraw. In the general assembly Erskine and Robertson were often opponents. Erskine cordially supported in the assembly a proposal in favour of foreign missions, which was opposed by Hamilton of Gladsmuir and the moderate party generally. The opening words of Erskine, as he rose to reply to Hamilton, became famous in the history of the mission cause. Pointing to a bible which lay on the table, and of which he intended to make use, and using a phrase very expressive in Scottish ears, he said, ‘Rax me the Bible.’

The parents of Sir Walter Scott were members of Old Greyfriars, but it was with Erskine, not Robertson, that their sympathies lay. When in ‘Guy Mannering’ Sir Walter brings the English stranger to the Greyfriars, it is Erskine's preaching that he describes.

Among the learned correspondents of Erskine with whom he interchanged views on public, literary, or theological questions, besides those already named, were Lord Kames, Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hailes), Bishop Hurd, and Mr. Burke. His correspondence with Kames bore on the question of free will, discussed in one of his lordship's essays, and more fully in the celebrated work of Jonathan Edwards. Lord Hailes (for whom Erskine had a very high respect and affection) corresponded on some points connected with the ‘Sketches and Hints of Church History.’ Bishop Hurd corresponded on other points in the same work. The correspondence with Burke related to the catholic question. Erskine wrote to Burke some of his reasons for dreading popery; Burke replied in a long and elaborate letter, not so much attempting to controvert Erskine's opinions as presenting the grounds on which he based his own.

Erskine enjoyed a hale old age, and continued in the performance of his pastoral duties, though in a constantly decreasing degree, till near the end. The evening before he died he was diligently employed in reading a new Dutch book. He went to bed at eleven, and died three hours after, on 19 Jan. 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age.

[Scott's Fasti; Memoir by Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood, Bart., D.D. (Edinburgh, 1818); Chambers's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen; M'Crie's Sketches of Scottish Church History; Hugh Miller's Two Parties in the Church of Scotland.] 

ERSKINE, RALPH (1685–1752), Scottish seceding divine and poet, born on 15 March 1685 at Monilaws, Northumberland, was the sixth son of Henry Erskine (1624–1696) [q. v.], by his second wife, Margaret Halcro. He entered the Edinburgh University in November 1699, and is said to have graduated M.A. in 1704, but his name is not in the published list of graduates. The date of his entrance is fixed by his narrative of a fire in the Parliament Close, where he lodged; he narrowly escaped being burned to death. After completing his arts course, he was engaged as tutor in the family of Colonel Erskine of Carnok, Fifeshire. Pursuing his theological studies, he was licensed on 18 June 1709 by Dunfermline presbytery. He is said to have early shown ability as a preacher, but did not at once obtain a call. His views were strongly evangelical, at a time when those of his brother Ebenezer [q. v.] were still undecided.

On 1 May 1711 he was called to the second charge at Dunfermline, and on 14 June to the parish of Tulliallan, Perthshire. He chose Dunfermline, where he was ordained on 7 Aug. The charge was collegiate, Erskine and his colleague, Thomas Buchanan, officiating in turns. Erskine, whose preaching was remarkable for its pathos, wrote his sermons closely; his portrait (as engraved in 1821) represents him as preaching with sermon-book in his hand. On 1 May 1716 he was transferred to the first charge, after the death of Buchanan. 