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Ebenezer Erskine (22 June 1680 – 2 June 1754) was a Scotland minister whose actions led to the establishment of the First Secession (formed by dissenters from the Church of Scotland).
In 1703, after studying at the University of Edinburgh, Ebenezer was ordained as minister of Portmoak, on the edges of Loch Leven in Kinross-shire. A year later, he married Alison Turpie. They remained in Portmoak for 28 years, until, in the autumn of 1731, he moved to the West Church in Stirling.
In protest against this sentence, the suspended ministers First Secession, 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.
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.
His teachings are also popular in the Dutch Reformed Church.
It is worthy of note that after he became a Free Gardener his sermons began to include numerous horticultural allusions.
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