{"product_id":"1789-john-erskine","title":"1789 JOHN ERSKINE. Friend of Jonathan Edwards Warns against George Whitefield Veneration \u0026c.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA superb little item of post-Great Awakening history. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eDr. John Erskine was the premier Scottish defender, publisher, and promoter of both the American theologian Jonathan Edwards and the English open-air evangelist George Whitefield. Many works published by Edwards were in fact first published in Scotland under Erskine's careful hand. Whitefield and Edwards were also both close and dear friends. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"1\" id=\"p-rc_3b28495ea0045699-23\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-18 citation-end-18\"\u003eWhen the First Great Awakening swept through the American colonies and Scotland in the 1740s, it faced massive opposition from traditional church leaders who viewed the intense emotional revivals as dangerous \"enthusiasm.\"\u003csup class=\"superscript\" data-turn-source-index=\"1\"\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e Erskine boldly stepped into the fray to legitimize the movement. In 1748, he published a famous defense specifically arguing that Scottish churches should freely employ Whitefield as a guest preacher despite his controversial, theatrical style. \u003cspan class=\"citation-17 citation-end-17\"\u003eAt the same time, Erskine initiated a lifelong correspondence with Jonathan Edwards, acting as his primary patron.\u003csup class=\"superscript\" data-turn-source-index=\"2\"\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"citation-16 citation-end-16\"\u003eErskine shipped a massive library of books to Edwards in New England, which ultimately made up a third of Edwards's total collection, and after Edwards's death, Erskine became the chief publisher responsible for posthumously printing Edwards’s dense theological treatises for a European audience.\u003csup class=\"superscript\" data-turn-source-index=\"3\"\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e This item represents the vital intellectual bridge that linked British and American revivalist philosophy during the Age of Reason.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is then fascinating to see Mr. Erskine keep up his correspondence with Samuel Hopkins, whom many saw as Edwards' successor, continue his habit of sending and commenting on books, and perhaps most interestingly, to subtly warn against the unthinking veneration of his friend, George Whitefield. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"1\"\u003eIn full: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e2.18.1789\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTo the Revd Mr. Samuel Hopkins\u003cbr\u003eNew Port Rhode Island\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Sir,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI sent you a letter \u0026amp; small parcel 10 Novr Liverpool of New York, since which I have not had from you any letters or parcels for me if sent by way of New York may be directed to the care of Mr. John Thomson, Mercht Queens Street, New York, if by way of Boston to the care of Mr White Bookseller Boston, or if by way of London to the are of Mr. Lockington No 46 Chiswell Street Moorfields London.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAs Mrs Galloway was sending Dr. Edwards a box I took the opportunity to put in his box a small parcel for you containing **** *****  Christian Memoirs (in which I think there is too much nonygeric on Mr. Whitfield \u0026amp; too little of a discriminating judgment), Dr. Gibbon's State of the World, 1770; Dr. Milner's Funeral Sermon on Watts, \u0026amp; Winter's on Mr. Hall. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI am busy just now partly in transcribing from my short hand some sermons for the press; partly in translating or abridging some German \u0026amp; Dutch tracts to show the state of religion abroad, \u0026amp; to guard agt popery \u0026amp; socinianism. The finishing \u0026amp; publishing ****** under God depend on the continuance of health \u0026amp; **** \u0026amp; the opinion of Friends as to their usefulness. about ten or twelve years ago we had 3 successive very agreeable settlements in  Edinr viz Mr Kemps, Mr. Randall, \u0026amp; Dr. Hunter, of whom the last is also Professor of Divinity. But soon after magistrates of opposite views got in to the management \u0026amp;  \u0026amp; instead of allowing the Ministers \u0026amp; Elders to joyn with them \u0026amp; the Town Council in electing Ministers, resumed the exercise in electing of their right of presentation. Of our last 5 settlements only one was agreeable. Four were of views not explicit in preaching \u0026amp; some o them suspected inimical to some important doctrine. I am Dear Sir, Yours affctly. John Erskine. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEdin 18 Febry 1789\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIt is now many months since I heard any thing of Dr. Bellamy. It appears to me a sov[ereign] frown on the churches that first Mr. Walker of Dondonal \u0026amp; then we were hindered by disorders of much the same kind from writing [?] on the ********.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50996279607332,"sku":null,"price":650.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/07-03-2026SpecsFineBooks-11.jpg?v=1783103270","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/1789-john-erskine","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}