Ralph Erskine

Ralph Erskine (1685-1752). Portrait by Richard Waitt, 1712. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Ralph Erskine (18 March 1685 - 6 November 1752) was a Scottish poet and clergyman.

Life

Overview

Erskine was born near Cornhill, Northumberland, where his father, a man of ancient Scottish family, was, for the time, a nonconforming minister. The son became minister of Dunfermline, and, with his brother Ebenezer, was involved in the controversies in the Church of Scotland, which led to the founding of the Secession Church in 1736. He has a place in literature as the writer of devotional works, especially for his Gospel Sonnets (of which 25 editions had appeared by 1797), and Scripture Songs (1754).

Youth and education

Erskine was born on 15 March 1685 at Monilaws, Northumberland, the 6th son of Henry Erskine (1624–1696) by his 2nd wife, Margaret Halcro.

He entered Edinburgh University in November 1699, and is said to have earned an 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 were still undecided.

Career

On 1 May 1711 Ralph Erskine was called to the 2nd 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. On 1 May 1716 he was transferred to the 1st charge, after the death of Buchanan.

Erskine was fond of music and a proficient on the violin. He was twice married: first, on 15 July 1714, to Margaret (died 22 Nov. 1730, aged 32), daughter of John Dewar of Lassodie; by her he had 10 children, of whom Henry became the secession minister at Falkirk; John became secession minister at Leslie, and joined the ‘anti-burghers;’ James succeeded his uncle Ebenezer at Stirling:

Ralph Erskine took a zealous part in the ecclesiastical controversies involving his brother Ebenezer. He and James Wardlaw, who had succeeded him in the 2nd charge, were among the "twelve apostles: of 1721. On 28 September 1721 the synod of Fife arraigned him for "Marrow doctrine," and for non-compliance with the act of 1720 in reference thereto. The synod warned him to be more careful, on pain of censure, and required him to repeat his subscription in a sense adverse to the "Marrow." This he would not do; but was willing to subscribe the confession anew, in the sense of its original imposers.

On 24 February 1732, he was married again, to Margaret (who survived him), daughter of Daniel Simpson, W.S., Edinburgh; by her he had 4 sons, of whom Robert became a merchant in London, a fellow of the Royal Society, and ultimately geographer and surveyor-general to the United States army.

When Ebenezer Erskine and his immediate followers were placed under sentence of deposition (1733), Ralph Erskine, while protesting against the assembly's course of action, did not immediately join the secession, though he was present at Gairney Bridge when the "associate presbytery" was formed. It was not until 16 February 1737 that he and Mair gave in to the Dunfermline presbytery a "declaration of secession from the present judicatories of the church of Scotland," not from the church itself. On 18 Febraru they were enrolled in the "associate presbytery" at Orwell, Kinross-shire; and on 15 May 1740 were deposed with its other members.

Erskine conducted the correspondence with Whitefield which led the latter to visit Scotland in 1741. In vain did he impress upon Whitefield the duty of making common cause with the ‘associate presbytery,’ and not seeming ‘equally to countenance’ their ‘persecutors.’ Whitefield's revival (1742) at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, a parish to which William m'Cullough, the minister, invited him, presented features which Erskine repudiated as enthusiastic.

He wrote a special treatise, ‘Faith no Fancy,’ in which he maintains that the "mental image" of "Christ as man" is in no way "helpful to the faith of his being Godman." When the question of the burgess oath came up, Erskine sided with his brother in thinking that it was a matter to be left to individual consciences; and on the separation (1747) of the party opposed to the oath, he issued an admonition to the separatists under the title Fancy no Faith.

Erskine preached his last sermon on 29 October 1752. Suddenly seized with a nervous fever, he died on 6 November. He was buried on 9 November at Dunfermline.

Writing

His poetic vein was shown, early in his ministry, by the composition of his Gospel Sonnets, which reached a 10th edition in 1762, and a 25th in 1797. They were followed by a paraphrase of the Song of Solomon (1738), a version of the Book of Lamentations (1750), and a posthumous volume of Job's Hymns (1753).

The Gospel Sonnets contain nothing in the shape of sonnets, but present a system of theology in verse, with much lively and quaint illustration. Phrases like the description of good works as "the cleanest road to hell" (Gospel Sonnets, pt. i. chap. v. § iv.) readily stick in the reader's memory.

It would appear from the preface to the Song of Solomon that this paraphrase had been submitted to Watts, who had suggested a few improvements, but had not gone over the whole. One of Erskine's best pieces is "Smoking Spiritualised," 5 stanzas in continuation of "an old meditation upon smoking tobacco."

His Scripture Songs were collected posthumously in 1754. The preface shows that they were designed for use in public worship. Little can be said of the poetical merit of these pieces, but it is to be remembered that they were for the common people, who received them with avidity.

In addition to the works already mentioned, Erskine published several single sermons (the earliest in 1738) and volumes of sermons, most of which, as well as the most important of his religious poems, will be found collected in his ‘Practical Works,’ edited by John Newlands, his son-in-law, Glasgow, 1764–6, 2 vols. fol. (portrait). There is an edition in 10 volumes, Glasgow, 1777, 8vo; and London, 1821, 8vo.

Quotations

• "Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith; for true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith." - Ralph Erskine, 1733
• "A rigid matter was the law,
  demanding brick, denying straw,
  But when with gospel tongue it sings,
  it bids me fly and gives me wings"
  - Ralph Erskine

Grave of Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) in Dunfermline Abbey churchyard, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Photo by Kin Traynor. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Recognition

Erskine's portrait by Richard Waitt (1712, engraved in 1821) represents him as preaching with sermon-book in his hand.

On 27 June 1849 a statue of Erskine, by Handyside Ritchie, was erected in front of the Queen Anne Street Church in Dumferline.

See also

Poem "Smoking Spiritualized" by Ralph Erskine

• List of British poets
• List of English-language hymnists

References

•  Gordon, Alexander (1889) "Erskine, Ralph" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 17 London: Smith, Elder, p. 433 . Wikisource, Web, Jan. 11, 2018.
• A.R. MacEwen, The Erskines. (Ebenezer & Ralph Erskine). Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier ("Famous Scots Series"), 1900.

External links

Poems

• Erskine's poems at A Puritan Mind
• Ralph Erskine at PoemHunter (17 poems)
• Ralph Erskine at AllPoetry (19 poems)
• Ralph Erskine at Poetry Nook (231 poems)

About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Erskine, Ralph