ERSKINE
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ESAR-HADDON
sion, the General Assembly decided that he should be 'rebuked and admonished,' confirming a decision of the inferior ecclesiastical courts. Against this decis- ion Mr. Erskine entered a ' protest,' in which he was joined by several of his brethren. He was afterwards suspended from his functions. The Assembly subse- quently endeavored to smooth the way for his restora- tion but he declined to take advantage of it, and he and his friends, including his brother Ralph, formally' seceded in 1736. When the Secession was divided into the two sects of Burghers and anti-Burghers, Mr. Er- skinc and his brother were of the Burgher part}'. He died on the '22d of June, 1756. Tiie Secession Church, reunited by the junction of the Burghers and anti- Burghers in 1820, remained a distinct body till 1847, when a union being effected with the Relief Synod (a body which arose from Mr. Gillespie's secession from the Established Church of Scotland in 1752), the ag- gregate body assumed the name of the United Pres- bj'terian Church" {FMylish Ci/clopctdia). Erskine bore a verj' high reputation as a scholar. His writings are collected in The ichde Works of Ehenezer Erskiiip, con- sisting of sermons and discourses on the most impor- tant and interesting subjects (Lond. 1799, 3 vols. 8vo). See Hetherington, CAurc^ iif , 'Scotland, ii, 297 sq. See Seceders; Scotland, Church of; United Pres- byterian ClIURUII.
Erskins, John, D.D., an eminent Scotch divine, was born in Edinburgh,. June 2, 1721, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. His father (author of the Instilu!es of the Laws of Scotland) wished him to de- vote himself to law, but finally yielded to his son's de- sire that he should study theology. At twenty he pub- lished an essay on The Law of Nature sufficient!)/ propa- gated to the Ileatheii World, aiming to show that the ig- norance and unbelief of the heathen is not due to want of evidence (Rom. i, 29). In 1743 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Dunblane, and in 1744 he became minister of Kirkintillock. In 1748, Mr. Er- skine, and other evangelical clergymen of the Estab- lished Church, invited Whitetield into their pulpits. An animated discussion took place, in which Mr. Er- skine triumphantly defended himself. Such a course required courage at a time when the character and doc- trines of Whitefield, as well as his open-air preaching, were looked upon by mmy with suspicion or dislike. In the following year Mr. Erskine published An £ssaj/ intendel to prom.'jte the more frequent dispensation of the Lord's Slipper. In 1753 he was translated to Culross, and in 1758 to New Greyfriars' church, Edinburgh. Here he prepared his Th'.oloijical Dissertations (Lond. 1765, 12mo), including the two essays above mention- ed : one on the Covenant of Sinai, one on Siivlng Faith, and one on the Apostolic Churches. He also edited a new edition of Hervey's Theron and Aspasio, with a preface against John Weslej', written with some bitter- ness, which gave rise to some letters between Erskine and Weslej', in which the latter appears to decided ad- vantage (Weslej', Woi-Jcs, N. York ed. vi, 125 sq., 744). In 17G9 he published anonymously a pamphlet under the title '■' Shall I go to tear loith yny American breth- ren?'' to expose the impolicy of such a contest. On the outbreak of hostilities he republished it with his name, following it up with another, entitled Reflections on the Rise, Progress, and jn-ohuble Consequences of the present Contentions tvith the Colonies, in which he urged the duty of the mother country resorting to concilia- tory measures. In 1776 he issued a third pamphlet, under the title The Equity and Wisdom of the Goveni- inent in the Measures that have occasioned the American Revolt tried hy the sacird Oracles. On this subject Erskine was one of the few clear-sighted men of the time in Great Britain. When nearlj' sixty he studied Dutch and German in order to read the Continental divines ; the fruit of these studies appeared in Sketches and Hints of Church Historg and theological Controver- sy, translated or abridged from foreign Writers (Edin-
burgh, 1790-97, 2 vols. 12mo). He died Januarj' 19, 1803. After his death appeared his Discourses (Edin- burgh, 1818, 2 vols. 12mo). — Jamieson, Religious Biog- raphy, p. 139; 3one.&,Christian Biography, p. 191; Well- wood, Life of Erskine.
Erskine, Ralph, brother of Ebenezer, was born at Monilaws, Northumberland, 1685, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. In 1711 he became minister at Dunfermline. In 1734 he joined his broth- er and others in their secession from the Church. See Seceders. He died 1752. He was a preacher of great popular abilities, devotional and zealous. His writ- ings are collected under the title Sermons and other practical Woi-ks, consisting of above 150 sermons, be- sides his poetical pieces, to which is prefixed an ac- count of the author's life and writings (Falkirk, 10 vols. 8vo, 1794-96). — Darling, Cyclop. BihliograjMca, i, 1063.
Erubim. See Talmud.
Erythrian Sibyl. See Sibyl.
Esa'ias (Rec. Text "iiaaiac, Lachm. with Codex B 'H(t«('«c; ^'idg. Isaias, Cod. Amiat. Esaias), the GraB- cized form, constantly' used in the N. T. (Matt, iii, 3 ; iv, 14 ; viii, 17 ; xii, 17 ; xiii, 14 ; xv, 7 ; Mark vii, 6 ; Luke iii, 4 ; iv, 17 ; John i, 23 ; xii, 38, 39, 41 ; Acts viii, 28, 30; xxviii,25; Rom. ix, 27, 29 ; x, 10, 20 ; xv, 12) for IsAiAii (q. v.). Comp. Esay'.