Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Sunday, June 22, 2014

22 June 1680 A.D. Scottish Minister and Secessionist, Mr. (Rev.) Ebenezer Erksine, Born


22 June 1680 A.D.  Scottish Minister and Secessionist, Mr. (Rev.) Ebenezer Erksine, Born.
Two sources here:  (1) Mr. Graves and (2) Mr. Wiki.

Graves, Dan. “Ebenezer Erskine (1680 to 1754).” Christianity.com.   N.d. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/birthdays/06-22.html. Accessed 3 May 2014.

Ebenezer Erskine (1680 to 1754)

Presbyterian

Ebenezer Erskine Censured.

Birth of Ebenezer Erskine in Dryburgh, Berwickshire. He was a "Marrowman," one of the evangelicals who was deeply impressed by a book titled Marrow of Modern Divinity. Disgusted that wealthy patrons decided which clergyman would be hired in many churches, he called for local election of pastors. He was censured for this view. With other pastors, he founded the Secession Church and was deposed from the Church of Scotland.

22 June 1680 A.D.  Birth of Scottish Minister & Secessionist from Church of Scotland, Rev. Ebenezer Erskine

Ebenezer Erskine (22 June 1680 – 2 June 1754) was a Scottish minister whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church (formed by dissenters from the Church of Scotland).

Ebenezer's father, Henry Erskine, served as minister at Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, but was ejected in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity. and imprisoned for several years. Ebenezer and his brother Ralph were both born during this difficult period in his father's life. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 Henry was appointed to the parish of Chirnside, Berwickshire.

In 1703, after studying at the University of Edinburgh, Ebenezer was ordained as minister of Portmoak, Kinross-shire. A year later, he married Alison Turpie.[1] They remained in Portmoak for 28 years, until, in the autumn of 1731, he moved to the West Church, Stirling.

Some time before this, at the General Assembly of 1722, a group of men including Ebenezer had been rebuked and admonished for defending the doctrines contained in the book The Marrow of Modern Divinity. In 1733, a sermon he preached on lay patronage at the Synod of Perth led to new accusations being levelled against him. He was compelled to defend himself from rebuke by appealing to the General Assembly, but the Assembly supported his accusers. After fruitless attempts to obtain a hearing, he, along with William Wilson of Perth, Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy and James Fisher of Kinclaven, was suspended from the ministry by the Commission of Assembly in November of that year.

In protest against this sentence, the suspended ministers constituted themselves as a separate church court, under the name the "Associate Presbytery". In 1739 they were summoned to appear before the General Assembly, but did not attend because they did not acknowledge its authority. They were deposed by the Church of Scotland the following year.

In the following years a large number of people joined their communion. The Associate Presbytery remained united until 1747, when a division took place over how the church should respond to a new oath required of all burgesses. Erskine joined with the "burgher" section, becoming their professor of theology. He continued to preach to a large and influential congregation in Stirling until his death. He was a very popular preacher and a man of considerable force of character. He was noted for acting on principle with honesty and courage. In 1820 the burgher and anti-burgher sections of the Secession Church were reunited, followed, in 1847 by their union with the relief synod as the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

The majority of Erskine's published works are sermons. His Life and Diary (edited by the Rev. Donald Fraser) was published in 1840. His Works were published in 1785.

In the United States, part of the Associate Presbyterian Church united with most of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1782, forming the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. This denomination, which continues today, operates Erskine College and Seminary in Due West, South Carolina.

Notes


1.       Jump up ^ "Erskine" 1875, p.538

References



External links


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